The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure on the jobseeker’s schemes of €3.28bn in 2014.
To qualify for jobseeker’s benefit or allowance a person must satisfy certain conditions, including the requirement to be available for full-time work and genuinely seeking such work. While the relevant legislation excludes from the schemes students who are attending a full-time day course of study other situations, including online degree courses, must be examined individually to determine if participation is consistent with satisfying all conditions of the relevant scheme. In this context, factors to be considered are the status of the course, i.e. full-time or part-time, and the overall level of commitment, including the time and possible expense involved, required by the course participant.
In general, it is considered that the level of commitment required to participate in a full-time course of education is not consistent with the jobseeker’s schemes requirement to be available for full-time employment and genuinely seeking such work. However, decisions are made based on the circumstances of each case. To qualify for back to education allowance a person must be in full-time attendance at college. Distance learning courses do not fall within this remit. There are no plans to change the criteria outlined above in respect of the jobseeker's or back to education allowance schemes.
