Any person of working age who does not qualify for jobseeker’s benefit may claim means tested jobseeker’s allowance. Subject to means and other qualifying conditions, self-employed persons may claim jobseeker’s allowance if their business ceases or there is reduced demand for their services. Typically over 80% of jobseeker’s allowance claims from self-employed persons have been awarded over recent years. People who were previously self-employed and are now in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance have access to the full range of activation measures available to other job-seeker’s allowance recipients.
Given the scale of unemployment levels, the key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to offer assistance to those most in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. This policy objective prioritises scarce resources to those in receipt of qualifying welfare payments. Accordingly the employment services and schemes provided by the Department are focused in the first instance on this cohort of unemployed people. However, many services are available to unemployed people who are not in receipt of a social welfare payment.
For example employment services, such as advice on job-search activities and the use of online job search tools, are available to people if they register with the Department’s employment services offices, regardless of their social welfare status.
Furthermore, unemployed persons not in receipt of payments may also be eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through Skillnets or ETB (formerly FÁS) training for unemployed people, but are not eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking the course.
Springboard courses for unemployed people, funded through the Department of Education and Skills, are open to people who were previously self-employed, regardless of their social welfare status.
The Work Placement Programme is also open to persons not in receipt of a social welfare payment, although the participant will not receive a payment while on the programme.
With reference to qualified adults, the qualified adult dependent of a person who has an existing entitlement to the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) can qualify for BTEA in their own right for the duration of an approved course of study. This provision applies to all BTEA relevant social welfare payments where there is an increase in respect of a qualified adult dependent in payment.
To qualify under this option, the applicant must be a qualified adult dependant (for the required qualifying period i.e. 3 months for SLO, 9 months for TLO (2 years in case of IB recipients)) of a person who satisfies the eligibility criteria for participation in the BTEA scheme immediately prior to the commencement of the approved course of study.
The qualified adult dependent, in such cases, is entitled to the increased qualified adult rate of the relevant Social Welfare payment that the claimant is in receipt of.
In effect, this provision allows the Social Welfare claimant and his/her qualified adult dependent to qualify independently for participation in the Back to Education Allowance Scheme.
The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) has a spousal swap facility. Where a person partaking in the BTWEA ceases self-employment before exhausting entitlement, their qualified adult may avail of entitlement under the scheme for the duration remaining on the original claim.
Qualified adults are also eligible for the Rural Social Scheme (RSS), which is aimed at low-income farmers and fishermen/women through spousal swaps. If a person eligible for the RSS does not wish to participate on the RSS, his/her dependent spouse/civil partner/cohabitant can apply in their place. In these instances, the person originally qualified must give up his/her qualifying DSP payment if his/her spouse/civil partner/cohabitant is accepted on the RSS.
