In general to get Jobseeker’s Allowance you must be unemployed. However, there are circumstances in which you can work and get Jobseeker’s Allowance. For example if:
You must meet all the other conditions for Jobseeker’s Allowance. For example, you must pass a means test and be unemployed for at least 3 days out of 6. You must also continue to look for full-time work.
Jobseeker’s Allowance is a means-tested payment so your household income must be below a certain level to qualify. Your income from work is assessed and can affect your Jobseeker's Allowance payment. However, only a certain amount of income from work is taken into account. This is called your means from work. If you have a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant their income from work or other sources is also taken into account and can affect your Jobseeker’s Allowance payment.
Other sources of income can also affect your Jobseeker's Allowance payment. Here we are only looking at how your income from work can affect Jobseeker’s Allowance. Jobseeker’s Allowance is not taxable.
Here we show you how to calculate your means from employment (not self-employment). You can find out how income from self-employment is assessed in our document Self-employment and unemployment.
Assessable earnings from work
The following items are always deducted from your gross earnings to get your assessable earnings from work:
If you work on Sunday you include your earnings on Sunday when calculating your weekly assessable earnings (see also 'Sunday work' below)
There are 2 stages to calculating how work will affect your Jobseeker’s Allowance.
First you must find out if you have an entitlement to Jobseeker’s Allowance at all - see ‘Part 1’ below. If you are entitled to some Jobseeker’s Allowance then you need to calculate how much Jobseeker’s Allowance you may get - see ‘Part 2’ below.
First, you must find out if you have an entitlement to Jobseeker’s Allowance.
To do this take your assessable weekly earnings (see above) and deduct €20 per day for each day you have worked up to a maximum of €60 (3 days). Next get 60% of the balance. This amount is your weekly means from work.
Assessable weekly earnings - €20 per day = total x 60% = weekly means from work.
You then work out what the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation would be. You get this by adding together the maximum payment for yourself plus any increases for a qualified adult and any qualified children. If your weekly means are less than this figure then your daily means are calculated to find the actual amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance you will get.
If your weekly means from all sources are greater than the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation then you will not get Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Maximum weekly rate of Jobseeker's Allowance for people aged 25 and over (2012)
| Personal rate (claimant) | €188 |
| Increase for a qualified adult | €124.80 |
| Increase for a qualified child | €29.80 (full-rate) €14.90 (half rate) |
People under 25 years of age get a reduced rate of Jobseeker's Allowance. However, there are exceptions and some people under 25 may get the higher JA rate. You can find more information on the JA rate for people under 25 in our document on Jobseeker's Allowance.
If your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant has a social welfare payment in their own right (except Child Benefit, Disablement Pension, guardian's payments, Supplementary Welfare Allowance, Domiciliary Care Allowance and half-rate Carer's Allowance) or is on a FAS or VTOS course and getting a payment in their own right you cannot claim an Increase for a Qualified Adult for them.
This means that the maximum you can be paid is the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for a single person plus a half-rate allowance for each qualified child. (Your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant will get a half-rate payment for each qualified child with their payment.)
In addition only 50% of your combined means are taken into account in the means test for your Jobseeker’s Allowance - in other words your combined means are halved.
However if you are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and your spouse or partner is getting one of the social welfare payments listed below, the total amount paid to both of you cannot be more than would be payable if only one of you was claiming and the other was an adult dependant.
If you are entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance, you then calculate how work will affect your payment.
1. Calculate your average daily earnings
To calculate your average daily earnings get your total weekly
assessable earnings from employment and divide by the number of days
you worked that week. You must include Sunday in this calculation if you worked
on Sunday (see 'Sunday work' below).
Total weekly earnings ÷ number of days worked = average daily earnings.
2. Next calculate your daily means from work
To calculate your daily means from work, you must first disregard any
income not taken into account. €20 is not taken into account for days worked.
Next get 60% of the balance. This is assessed as your daily means from work.
Average daily earnings - €20 = total x 60% = daily means from work.
3. Finally, find your weekly means from work
To find your weekly means from work, multiply your daily means by the
number of days worked. If you work on Sunday do not count
Sunday in the number of days worked - see ‘Sunday work’ below. However, if
you get paid for a public holiday and you don't work that day, it will be
included in the number of days worked - see 'Public holidays' below.
Daily means from work x number of days worked = weekly means from work.
Remember that this figure must be halved if your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is getting a social welfare payment in their own right (see above for details).
Sunday work
If you work on Sunday calculating your means from employment is done differently. You must include your earnings from Sunday when calculating your assessable weekly earnings. However Sunday is not counted as a day of work, so your daily means from work on a Sunday are not taken into account in the means test. So:
Public holidays
If you work part-time, your employer must pay you for the public holidays which you don’t work, as long as, you have worked at least 40 hours in the 5 weeks immediately before the week of the public holiday. More information on payment for public holidays, can be found in our document on Public holidays.
If you get paid for a public holiday and don't work that day, it will be included in the number of days worked to find your weekly means from work. Depending on your means, you can continue to get Jobseeker’s Allowance for the other days you do not work.
Subtract your weekly means from the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation to find out how much Jobseeker’s Allowance you will get.
Note: The maximum weekly rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance for your circumstances is the maximum rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance and any increases for your adult dependant and child dependants. If your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is getting a social welfare payment in their own right an increase for a qualified adult is not included in the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation and you will only get a half-rate increase for each qualified child.
If you have other means in addition to means from work they will also be taken into account and will affect how much Jobseeker’s Allowance you will get.
You may find our Worksheet to help you calculate your means from work for Jobseeker's Allowance useful.
If your income from work is reduced or you are working part-time and you are
supporting at least one child you may get Family
Income Supplement (FIS). You must be working 19 or more hours per week (or
38 hours per fortnight) and your income must be below a certain amount. You
cannot get FIS and Jobseeker’s Allowance at the same time. However your
partner can get FIS while you are getting Jobseeker's Allowance. You can visit
your Social Welfare Local Office or Citizens Information Centre to work out
which payment would be of greater benefit to you.
If you were getting Jobseeker's Allowance before 26 September 2007 and have continued to get Jobseeker's Allowance continuously, you can be assessed using the previous method of calculating means from employment to find out if you would get a greater amount of Jobseeker's Allowance.
In determining whether a person is involved in seasonal employment the nature of the business is investigated, as well as the nature of the person's employment.
Some of the typical areas where seasonal employments exist are:
Once the season is over, the means from seasonal employment are excluded from the assessment until the commencement of the next season.
Your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income from employment is assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Their income from work is assessed in the same way as your income from work (if any). To work out what your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's means from work is:
Assessable weekly earnings - €20 per day (maximum €60 for 3 days work) = total x 60% = weekly means from work.
This figure is halved if your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is also:
Note: If means are halved, an increase for a qualified adult is not payable but you can get a half-rate increase for each qualified child.
Your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income from self-employment is assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The assessment must reflect the earnings your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant may reasonably be expected to get from their business over the next 12 months. Income for the last 12 months will be taken as a guide but allowing for any factors which it is known will vary. Your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant should be prepared to discuss these factors when you are assessed for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Earnings are assessed as gross income less work related expenses over 12 months. The expected annual earnings from self-employment is divided by 52 to find your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's weekly means from self-employment.
Any ‘drawings’ taken from the business is not an allowable expense. If the ‘drawings’ from the business are greater than the level of income calculated, the ‘drawings’ are assessed as cash income.
There is no exhaustive list of all expenses allowed because expenses vary with the nature and extent of the self-employment. However the following are the main allowable expenses in most cases:
To prove the level of income from the business your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant must give his or her receipts and payments (documentation showing money coming in and out of the business) or audited accounts to the person dealing with your application in your Social Welfare Local Office.
If you were getting Jobseeker's Allowance before 26 September 2007 and you were still in payment on 26 September, your income and your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income will be assessed using both the old means test and the new means test. You will get the higher amount. (The old means test is the means test used before 26 September 2007. The new means test is used on JA applications recieved after 26 September 2007).
If you would get a greater amount of JA on the previous assessment then you will continue to be assessed using the previous method of calculating means from employment.
If you stop claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for more than 4 weeks you cannot apply the old method of calculating means from employment. If the first time you stop claiming JA is for less than 4 weeks, the second time you stop claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (even if it is for less than 4 weeks) you will be assessed using the new assessment only. This means, if you want to be assessed using the previous method you are only allowed one break in your claim of less than 4 weeks
Before 26 September 2007 your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income from employment affected your JA payment as follows:
If your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant works and earns less than €100 gross per week, you are entitled to a full increase for him/her as a qualified adult. A reduced qualified adult allowance is paid if his/her earnings are between €100 and €310. If your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant earns more than €310, you will not be paid any increase for him/her. If you have a child dependant and you are getting a child dependant increase in your payment, this portion is halved if your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant earns more than €310.
In summary:
| Spouse, civil partner or cohabitant works | Take home pay | Your payment |
| 1,2 or 3 days | €50 | No change |
| 1,2 or 3 days | More than €50 | Any earnings over this amount are halved and deducted from your payment |
| 4 or more days | €100 | No change |
| 4 or more days | More than €100 | Any earnings over this amount are halved and deducted from your payment |
Your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income can also affect your
payment. Read
more about how your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income from
employment is assessed as means and possibly affect your Jobseeker's
Allowance.
Your average weekly net earnings are used to calculate your means. This is usually established by calculating your average earning over the previous 13 weeks (or another period if this is more representative of your normal working pattern). When assessing your income from employment the following allowances are always deducted from your gross earnings to get your net earnings.
How your income from employment is assessed depends on whether you have child dependants.
If you have one or more qualified child dependants and you are working part of the week while claiming JA, your means are assessed as 60% of your average net weekly earnings.
If you do not have qualified child dependants, €12.70 euro of your earnings for each day worked are not taken into account and disregarded from your average net weekly earnings. Only 60% of the balance is assessed against the weekly rate of JA.
A person is entitled to JA only for periods of unemployment. The minimum period a person must be unemployed in order to receive JA is 3 days in a period of 6 consecutive days.
If you were getting JA on the 20 November 1996 and have continued to get JA continuously, you can continue to be assessed using the method of calculating means from employment in place at that time to find out if you would get a greater amount of JA.
If your means have changed, for any reason since the 20 November 1996, you cannot apply this method of calculating means from employment.
Before 20 November 1996 your spouse's, civil partner's or cohabitant's income from employment affected your JA payment as follows:
The following method of assessing means from insurable employment applies if you were getting JA on the 20th November 1996 and have continued to get JA continuously and if this method of assessment is of greater benefit than that under the current method of assessment of earnings from work. If your means have changed, for any reason since the 20th November 1996, the saver rate will not apply.
The following is how you means are assessed using the Saver Clause: