The Self-Employed and Jobseeker's Benefit/Allowance

One issue that we are commonly asked about is that of social welfare entitlements for the self-employed, in particular JobSeekers Benefit. If you are self-employed, what social welfare safety nets are there should your business fail or not provide you with sufficient income?

Qualifying for Jobseeker’s Benefit

Most self-employed people cannot qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit due to the fact that it is only given to people who have paid PSRI at Class A. However, if you have previously worked and paid Class A PRSI as an employee before becoming self-employed you may be entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit.

To qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit you need:

·         At least 104 Class A PRSI contributions paid since you first started work

·         And have 39 Class A PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant tax year (a minimum of 13 weeks must be paid contributions*) or

·         Have 26 Class A PRSI contributions paid in the relevant tax year and 26 weeks Class A PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant 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.

If you are unsure as to how many Class A PRSI contributions that you have, you can check your PRSI record directly with the Department of Social Protection (contact details available at www.welfare.ie).

I do not qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit. What happens next?

If you do not qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit you may instead qualify for Jobseeker’s Allowance which is a means-tested social welfare payment. If you have applied for Jobseeker’s Benefit and did not qualify, you should be automatically assessed for Jobseeker’s Allowance. In fact, you cannot actually apply for Jobseeker’s Allowance until you have first applied for Jobseeker’s Benefit (even if you know that you will not qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit).

Jobseekers Allowance – Means Test

If you do not earn enough from self-employment and you do not qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit, you may be able to get Jobseeker’s Allowance if you pass a means test. To qualify, you must also be:

·         Over 18 and under 66

·         Unemployed and available for, capable of and genuinely seeking work

·         Habitually resident in Ireland

How can I be available for work if I am self-employed?

You will no doubt have noticed that one of the qualifying criteria is that you must be available for and seeking work. For the self-employed, you can remain so and can even be engaged in self-employment every day and still be entitled to receive Jobseeker’s Allowance, provided your overall income stays below a certain amount. The number of days you are engaged in self-employment is not relevant.

In order to satisfy the criteria of being capable of, available for, and genuinely seeking work, you must be able to show evidence of this to the Department of Social Protection.

Available for work

Essentially the Department of Social Protection considers that you are available for employment if you are prepared to accept any offers of suitable employment immediately. It is important to be aware that you can be regarded as not being available for work and therefore not entitled to Jobseeker's Allowance 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

Genuinely looking for work

You must be able to show that you are making genuine efforts to secure employment. You need to provide examples of such steps. Steps which would indicate that you are considered to be genuinely seeking work may include:

·         Making oral or written applications for work

·         Looking for information on the availability of employment from employers, advertisements and employment agencies

·         Taking up reasonable training opportunities

·         Acting on the advice given by a Job Facilitator, a FÁS adviser or other placement agency such as the Local Employment Service (LES)

·         Taking positive, well advised steps towards establishing yourself in self-employment such as researching possible areas of self-employment,

·         Preparing business plans for a self-employment project

·         Attending relevant "start your own business" courses or seeking information, advice or guidance in relation to any of these steps

How is the Means Test Carried Out?

For information on how the means test is carried out, watch out for a future blog post coming soon.

Other Benefits

If you qualify for Jobseeker's Allowance you may also be eligible to apply for secondary benefits such as a medical card, rent supplement, mortgage interest supplement, fuel allowance, assistance with school costs etc.

Contact Details

www.fenero.ie

info@fenero.ie

01-6877400