SWA Penalty Rates - Jobseekers

SWA Penalty Rates – Jobseekers

Your Jobseeker’s payment may be reduced to a Penalty Rate if you fail, without worthy cause, to engage in Group or Individual Activation Meetings or suitable education, training or development opportunities, or specified employment programmes and Schemes as recommended by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) or any service acting on behalf of the DSP.

It is not allowed in the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme for payment of SWA to replace any Penalty Rate reduction imposed. However, as with Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit, any 9-week activation disqualification only applies to the Personal Rate of SWA – the €230 portion paid to the main claimant. Where a disqualification is applied, SWA may be paid for qualified adults (IQA) and qualified children (IQC).

If your application for a basic weekly SWA payment is refused, suspended, or disqualified completely you should:

• ask for the decision in writing

• decide if you wish to request a formal review of that decision

• decide if you wish to appeal the original decision, or any review of the original decision if the outcome of the review is unsuccessful, to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO)

If an SWA payment has been refused, you have the right to formally appeal that decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. Before making a formal appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office, you can make a request for a ‘review’ to the Department of Social Protection asking for the original decision to be reviewed. If this is not successful, you can make a formal appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. At each stage you should appeal a decision/request a review within 21 days of the date that the initial decision has been made.