Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment
The Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment (JST) is a means-tested payment under the Jobseeker’s Allowance Scheme. If you have been in receipt of One-Parent Family Payment, and the payment is ending because your youngest child will be 7, you may be eligible for this payment. You may also be eligible if you are parenting alone or sharing parenting following the end of your relationship, and you have a child aged between 7 and 13 who lives with you. You can apply for JST even if you were not in receipt of One-Parent Family Payment previously.
The payment is designed to support you back into work when your children are older. You will need to meet certain conditions for payment, but you do not have to meet the requirement of being available for, and actively seeking, full-time work.
If you are married but your relationship has ended and you are no longer living together, you will need to be living apart for three months to qualify. This does not apply to unmarried applicants.
The main conditions for Jobseeker’s Transitional payment are as follows:
- You have your child living with you who is aged between 7 and 13
- You are capable of work
- You meet the means test
- You are not cohabiting
- You are expected to engage with the Department with a view to supports needed to prepare for full time work in the future.
While in receipt of Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment:
- You do not have to be available for, or seeking, full time work.
- You can take part in courses of education and keep your payment.
- You do not have to be fully unemployed for 4 out of 7 days; this means you could work part time across more than 3 days and still receive a payment.
Payment rate for 2023
- Personal Rate: €220 weekly
- €42 for each dependent child aged 0-12
- €50 for each dependent child aged 12+
Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment and Employment
You can work and earn €165 gross per week before your rate of payment is affected. Half of the remaining amount of your gross weekly earnings is assessed as means and deducted from the maximum weekly payment. If you are self-employed, then the weekly disregard of €165 does not apply. All of your net profit is assessed as means.
With this payment you do not need to be available for full-time work, or genuinely seeking work if you are caring for your children. However, you will be expected to meet with the Department from time to time, at their request, to consider what options may be available to you, to plan for work in the future. You may also be required to take recommended courses of education or training.
How to Apply
You can apply for the JST payment at your local INTREO centre. You can also download the application form and return it, with the relevant documentation, to your local INTREO centre. Information on the Department’s website, including the application form, is here.
Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment and Maintenance
Applicants for social welfare payments are no longer required to seek child maintenance from the other parent of their child when applying for the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) or Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment (JST). The requirement to seek maintenance was reviewed by the Child Maintenance Review Group set up by the Government and, in November 2022, a government decision was taken to remove the requirement for applicants to seek child maintenance which means that people should not be asked to seek maintenance as part of their OFP or JST application.
The Child Maintenance Review Group also recommended the removal of child maintenance from the assessment of means for all social welfare payments and social assistance schemes including payments like Rent Supplement. We do not have a date for the change in the law which allows the Department of Social Protection to exclude child maintenance in the calculation of means.
Any child maintenance declared to the Department will continue to be assessed in the means test until the legislation changes but if you don’t receive or declare child maintenance then you will not be asked to pursue the other parent in relation to this.
Please note that spousal maintenance will continue to be means tested as normal. The changes only apply to child maintenance.
There is information on the changes to how maintenance is to be assessed on our website here: Changes to how child maintenance is treated.
Budget 2024
Increases to all core weekly social welfare payments in Budget 2024 mean that Job-seeker Transitional Payment rates will be as follows in 2024:
Maximum personal weekly rate: € 232
Child aged under 12 years: €44 additional payment for each child weekly.
Child aged 12 years and over: €52 additional payment for each child weekly.
Page last modified 9th November 2023