Jobseeker's Benefit

Introduction

Jobseeker's Benefit (JB) is a weekly payment from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) to people who are out of work and covered by social insurance (PRSI).

You must be unemployed to get Jobseeker's Benefit. However, you may get a proportion of your Jobseeker's Benefit if your days at work are reduced or you can only get part-time or casual work. You can also get Jobseeker's Benefit if you are laid off work. Find out more about work and Jobseeker's Benefit.

If you don't qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit you may qualify for Jobseeker's Allowance.

If you think you have been wrongly refused Jobseeker's Benefit you can appeal this decision.

Work experience for jobseekers

JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme provides work experience for people who have been getting a jobseeker’s payment or signing for credits for at least 3 months. The FÁS Work Placement Programme provides 9 months’ work experience for graduates and other unemployed people. For more information contact your local FÁS office.

Rules

To qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit you must:

• Be unemployed (you must be fully unemployed or unemployed for at least 3 days in 6)
• Have enough social insurance (PRSI) contributions
• Be under 66 years of age
• Be capable of work
• Be available for and genuinely seeking seek work
• Have a substantial loss of employment (see below) and as a result be unemployed for at least 3 days in 6.

Social insurance (PRSI) contributions

To qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit, you must have enough Class A, H or P PRSI contributions. PRSI is deducted from your wages and/or paid by your employer. Find out more about your employers duty to pay PRSI. Class A covers most private sector employees. Class H is paid by soldiers, reservists and temporary army nurses, who do not qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit until they have left the army.

You must have:

• At least 104 weeks PRSI contributions paid since you first started work

And

• Have 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year (a minimum of 13 weeks must be paid contributions*)

Or

• Have 26 weeks PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

*If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, you must have 13 contributions paid in any one of the following years:

• The 2 tax years before the relevant tax year
• The last complete tax year,
• The current tax year.

The Relevant Tax Year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which your claim is made. So, for claims made in 2012, the Relevant Tax Year is 2010.

Contributions you have paid in other member states of the EU/EEA will be added to your Irish contributions. If you are applying for Jobseeker's Benefit and need the contributions paid in another EU/EEA country to help you qualify, then your last contribution must have been in Ireland.

Capable of work

You are capable of work unless you can prove otherwise. You must produce medical evidence to prove that you are not able to work. If you have spent some time incapable of work you must produce a final medical certificate to prove that you are now fit for work.

If you are ill and incapable of work you may be entitled to Illness Benefit.

Available for and genuinely seeking work

You must be available for work and actively looking for work to qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit. You may be asked to show evidence that you are actively seeking work. For example, letters showing job applications or failure to get a job.

Unavailable for work

You can be regarded as not being available for work and not entitled to Jobseeker's Benefit if you put unreasonable restrictions on the following:

• The nature of the employment
• The hours of work
• The rate of pay
• The duration of the employment
• The location of the employment

In any case where a Deciding Officer is of the opinion that you have placed unreasonable restrictions, you will be interviewed and given the opportunity to respond.

If you are looking after a sick or elderly person you may be entitled to Carer's Benefit.

Reduction in payment

The Social Welfare Act 2010 provides that your payment can be reduced if you:

• Refuse an appropriate offer of training by an officer of the Department of Social Protection or FÁS
• Decline an intervention under the Employment Action Plan (EAP), do not attend EAP meetings with a FÁS officer under the EAP or drop out of the EAP process

Community Employment Schemes are not considered to be FÁS training opportunities.

Loss of employment

You must have suffered a substantial loss of employment in any period of six consecutive days in order to be eligible for Jobseeker's Benefit. This means, you must have lost at least one day's employment and as a result of this loss be unemployed for at least 3 days out of 6 days. Your earnings must also have been reduced because of the loss of employment. More information is available in work and Jobseeker's Benefit.

You may be disqualified from getting Jobseeker's Benefit for 9 weeks if you:

• Left work voluntarily and without a reasonable cause
• Lost your job through misconduct
• Refused an offer of suitable alternative employment or suitable training
• Are aged under 55 and get a redundancy payment of more than €50,000. The exact length of your disqualification (up to nine weeks) will in practice, depend on the precise amount of redundancy payment you received (see below).

Redundancy

If you are under 55 and get a redundancy payment of more than €50,000 you are disqualified from claiming Jobseeker's Benefit. The table below shows how long you may be disqualified for. The length of the disqualification is at the discretion of the deciding officer (who can take your circumstances into account). Any period of disqualification is subtracted from your total Jobseeker's Benefit entitlement. So if you are disqualified for 3 weeks (which is 18 days payment) your JB claim starts on day 19.

However, you may clear some debts, for example, mortgage arrears or rent using your redundancy payment. The disqualification period will be applied to the amount of redundancy you have left.

Duration of Jobseeker's Benefit payment

Since 15 October 2008, you may be paid Jobseeker's Benefit for up to 12 months.

If you have less than 260 paid contributions you may be paid Jobseeker's Benefit for up to 9 months (234 days).

If you are under 18, you will only get Jobseeker's Benefit for a maximum of 6 months (156 days).

Re-qualifying for Jobseeker's Benefit

If you have used up your entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit (JB), you may re-qualify by working and paying the appropriate PRSI contributions for at least 13 weeks. If you are working and getting JB, as in the case of systematic short-time workers and some part-time workers, the 13 weeks paid contributions can begin once you have claimed JB for 156 days.

You must have suffered a substantial loss of employment to re-qualify for JB, unless you are a casual worker. If you have lost your job you will have suffered a substantial loss of employment. If you are a part-time or systematic short-time worker DSP will look at your pattern of employment over the last 13 weeks or another representative period to find out whether you have suffered a substantial loss of employment.

For example, if you are getting JB and working 3 days each week as a systematic short-time worker or a part-time worker and your employment pattern has not changed during the course of your JB claim, you will not have suffered a substantial loss of employment and will not re-qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit. However, if your JB claim ends and your 3 day week working week is then reduced to a 2 day week, you will have suffered a substantial loss of employment and may re-qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit.

Payments for dependants

If you qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit you get an amount for yourself, which is called the 'personal rate of payment'. You may also get an increase in your payment for an adult dependant and any child dependants you may have.

Child dependants

A 'child dependant' is usually a child up to 18 years of age who lives with you.

If you are getting Jobseeker’s Benefit for at least 156 days and your child is between 18 and 22, and in full-time education, an Increase for a Qualified Child may be paid up to 22 years of age or up to the end of the academic year in which he or she reaches 22.

You will only get a half rate Increase for a Qualified Child if your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant has income of €310 a week or over, or has a social welfare payment in their own right. If you and your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant are each getting a social welfare payment you will each get half the Increase for a Qualified Child.

You will not get any Increase for a Qualified Child your spouse's or civil partner's or cohabitant's gross income is over €400.

Adult dependant

You may get an Increase for a Qualified Adult for your adult dependant (this is usually your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant). If you are single, widowed, divorced, separated, a former civil partner or not living with your civil partner, and living with a person aged 16 or over you can claim an increase for them but only if he or she is caring for a child dependant of yours.

If your adult dependant is earning less than €100 you will get a full Increase for a Qualified Adult. If your adult dependant is earning between €100 and €310 you will get a reduced rate for him or her. If your adult dependant is earning more than €310 you will not get an Increase for a Qualified Adult. Find out more about the Jobseeker's Benefit rates of payment for an adult dependant.

Rates

Jobseeker's Benefit is not paid for the first 3 days you are unemployed (the first 3 days are any 3 days, not necessarily consecutive, in a period of six consecutive days).

If you are unemployed for a second time within 26 weeks of your last Jobseeker's Benefit payment your application for Jobseeker's Benefit is not treated as a new claim and you do not have another 3 days of non-payment. For more information see 'Temporary work' in our document on Work and Jobseeker's Benefit.

Weekly Jobseeker's Benefit payment in 2012

Reduced rate of Jobseeker's Benefit

Jobseeker's Benefit rates are graduated according to earnings in the relevant tax year. From January 2009, a reduced rate of Jobseeker's Benefit is payable if your average weekly earnings in the relevant tax year before you became unemployed were under €300. Your average weekly earnings is your gross yearly earnings from employment divided by the number paid A, H or P contributions in the Relevant Tax Year.

The relevant tax year is 2 years before the year of your claim. For example, if you claim Jobseeker's Benefit in 2012 the relevant tax year is 2010. If you are affected by this rule, it may of greater benefit for you to claim Jobseeker's Allowance instead of Jobseeker's Benefit.

Linking claims

In some cases, a current JB claim may be linked to an older claim. If this is the case, your JB claim is not treated as a new claim, it is linked to your previous claim.

For claims in 2012 linked to JB claims started before 2009:

Getting paid

You can collect your Jobseeker's Benefit payment weekly from your nearest Post Office.

You must bring valid photographic identification with you to collect your payment. The following is considered as valid photographic identification (photo ID):

• Driving licence
• Passport
• GNIB card.

Staff working in the Post Office may ask to see your photo ID before giving you your payment.

Taxation of Jobseeker's Benefit

Jobseeker's Benefit is taxable. However, if you are getting Jobseeker's Benefit because your normal working week has been reduced (systematic short-time work) your Jobseeker's Benefit is not taxed. Find out more about the taxation of Jobseeker's Benefit.

Half-rate Jobseeker's Benefit with another social welfare payment

If you are getting a Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's Pension, a One-Parent Family Payment or a deserted wives payment from the Department of Social Protection and you meet all the conditions for Jobseeker's Benefit, you will be entitled to half the normal rate of Jobseeker's Benefit. An Increase for a Qualified Child is not paid with Jobseeker's Benefit in these cases because you are already being paid for your children in your main payment.

These half-rate payments have been discontinued from January 2012.

How to apply

You should apply for Jobseeker's Benefit the first day you become unemployed.

It is important to apply on the first day you become unemployed because you will not get paid for the first three days of your claim.

Jobseeker's Benefit application form is now available online. You can also get an application form at your Social Welfare Local Office.

You will also need to bring certain documents to prove your claim. You may find this list of documents you need when you apply for Jobseeker's Benefit useful. If you do not have these documents to hand, you should apply anyway and supply them later. You should remember that delay in applying for Jobseeker's Benefit may mean that you lose out on your full entitlements.

You can get help to fill in your application form at your Social Welfare Local Office or nearest Citizens Information Centre.

If you think you have been wrongly refused Jobseeker's Benefit you can appeal the decision. More information about applying for Jobseeker's Benefit is available in our document about signing on for the first time.

Where to apply

Applications for Jobseeker's Benefit should be made to your Social Welfare Local Office.