Ah.
MikeyFex writes:
“I got this letter from the Dept of Social Protection last night seeking payment of an outstanding debt. After initial confusion it dawned on me that I had remained on the dole for a week into my job that I started back in 2007, for, you know, food. A phone call to the Dept this morning confirmed that this was indeed the case and recent legislation passed means that many more can expect letters like this. It’s fair enough that I pay it back. It’s a little unfair that I’m charged for 2 weeks when they have me down for 8 days of overpayment. It’s also a little unfair that you’re to drop off the dole the day you start your job, in my case six weeks before I’d get my first payslip. Still, I always knew I was a big fish and in this small pond I would be caught eventually….”
Thanks Original Cynic (for header)
Hang Him !
haha
Really doling out the punishment there Kill.
Got the same myself a few weeks ago for about €145, from when I was on the dole briefly in 2009.
i got one a good few years ago. even though it took 4 weeks for them to issue any payment to me from when i first signed on, they were quick enough to hammer me for the week’s dole from when i started work. they weren’t interested in having that particular debate with me and i paid it in the end.
I believe payment in 1c and 2c coins is your only option here
And they would be legally allowed not to accept it, which would make it really quite funny.
5 cent coins?
The following is an extract from the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998:
“10(1) No person, other than the Central Bank of Ireland and such persons as may be designated by the Minister by order, shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins denominated in euro or in cent in any single transaction.”
Pay what you owe. Sponger! With our money as well. Kudos to SW for finally going after the monies owed by so many sponging the system.
8 days of dole money from someone who has worked solid for the last seven years. Scum of the earth indeed.
I love how the department that is supposed to help people struggling doesn’t understand that most people don’t get payed weekly and so even when starting a new job they are not going to be able to afford to eat.
I really see our country heading in this direction.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/09/david-clapson-benefit-sanctions-death-government-policies
Make sure you read the final paragraph.
Yep, got one of these for €90 also from a brief unemployment spell in 2009. I remember being 100% exact and vigilant at the time about the date I signed off and the date I started new employment – given the fraud-chasing campaign at the time – so this really baffled and angered me. I phoned the Dept. Recommend you do same…..
He rang them…
Oh yes, sorry I see that now.
My experience on the call was as if I was dealing with a Dept. with a split-personality who had been all hyper-efficient and taking-no-sh1t when they issued the letter to all chilled and ‘don’t worry dude’ on the call. I asked for proof of the debt but that didn’t happen. Bizarre.
Ha, same experience. She was quite nice actually. I’m to ring my local office and query the amount with them. I’ll not keep ye posted.
you should go down in a blaze of glory mikey screaming “you’ll never take our freedom”
It would be nice if a system was created where, when you do find work you can apply for a ‘loan’ to bridge you between you going off the dole and your first payslip. The debt could be repaid in monthly back through additional PRSI payments.
OP did that, the Irish way. ignore it!
No like I say, it’s fair enough that I pay it back. Was just highlighting that it’s happening. The 6 weeks between starting and getting paid were tough though. Like Drogg and Continuity say, perhaps there should be something implemented to help there.
And yes, on the dole in 2007. Ahead of the curve as usual.
Also, credit to Original Cynical for the headline.
Social Welfare are getting the info for this from revenue which means the start date they have for the employment comes from either you filling in a form to register or your employer, make sure it’s correct, a lot of employers register people from the date the did they gave you the job or from the start of unpaid training etc rather than when they first pay you from
Ya, good tip. All correct for me in this case.
That was the case with me.
It pays to archive your calendars.
Thank you!
So you stayed on the dole for an extra week cause you weren’t getting paid for ages, no problem with that, as long as you pay it back. You said you are happy to pay it back now that you’re in a position to do so. I’m struggling to see where the controversy is.
Just happy to get something in the post is all.
7 years after the event and with no back-up evidence in writing?
Would you be suspicious if you received a 7-year old parking fine in the post and with no specifics?
If you overpaid tax and try to claim it back more than four years after the fact the Revenue will tell you to jog on. I doubt this sort of thing gets statute-barred somehow,
My sentiments..
And what of all the overpaid taxes, unclaimed reliefs, are they going to send out letters to people for that?
Or even better the cheque.. without them having to apply for it.
We’re talking hundreds of millions here.
Here’s just one example of the overpayment they’ve charged.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0130/311671-prsi/
‘Tens of thousands of workers are due a refund for overpaying their PRSI’
“The overcharging is due to the way the health levy element of social insurance was applied in 2010.
Anyone earning less than €26,000 was not liable to pay the levy.
However, if a person earned more than €500 in a given week the levy was automatically deducted from their pay.
This means those that earned over €500 a week – but less than the annual threshold of €26,000 – may be due money back.
The Department of Social Protection insisted this is not an error and it said the system was set up to deduct PRSI on a weekly basis and workers could later apply to get the money refunded.
However, the refund is not automatic and the Consumers’ Association of Ireland is advising people to check their payslips and apply to the Department if they think they are due money back.”
Mikey, fair play.. worth seeing if you’re entitled to some tax back while you’re at it maybe?
P21 balancing statements can be requested from Revenue, for the last few years.
PRSI is a separate dept.
There was massive overcharging with that, per the link I put there.
Doctors, any medication, any physio, dental.. relief is also granted on those.
Hundreds of millions being over charged and not refunded to people and you have this carry on, going back 7 flupping years.
Joke.
Coming after a week’s dole overpayment after 7 years is bullshit. Yet more desperate measures to pay off the private debt we’ve taken on.