Newstart- anyone received it? (3 Viewers)

[Graney]

Due to financial necessity, I'm thinking of differing for a year, trying to find full-time work, passing the income test to be considered independent and then receiving youth allowance for the rest of my degree.

I'm 21, living away from home, paying rent and looking for a full-time job. I've never earnt enough money to be considered "independent" for youth allowance, but I don't think the independence test applies to Newstart.

My current casual job sucks, I'm getting paid $11 an hour and struggling to survive. I save everything, but if any emergency expenses come up, I will run out of money.

I'll take a full-time job as soon as I can find one, but I'm really struggling.

I'm pretty sure I'm eligible for Newstart.

Has anyone used it? How psycho are the activity agreements you must sign? Would they be okay with me holding out for a sales job, or would they be trying to push me into crap I didn't want to do, in industries I hate?

Would I be penalised for leaving my current casual job, or reducing hours? The risks are too high in my current job imo.

Does income received from Newstart payments count towards the $18k I need to earn to be considered independent?

 

[Peartie]

ive not had it but I think you need to be working full time rather than casual so they prob wouldnt accept it

and im pretty sure it wont count towards independence....

 

[Graney]

ive not had it but I think you need to be working full time rather than casual so they prob wouldnt accept it

What?
You're saying you need to be in full-time work, in order to get unemployment benefits?

Cool.

and im pretty sure it wont count towards independence....

Why not? It's taxed and delivered like regular income sources,

 

[Peartie]

sorry...meaning that you would need to be looking for full time work - i had just been reading ausstudy before i wrote that.......

So i dont think you can be in a casual job....but ask them would be the best bet

and agan for the second quetion ask them - but you haven't really *earnt* it...thats why I was assuming you can not count it towards independence

 

[conics2008]

hey u said u moved out.. do u live alone or in share accom ???

if so how much are we looking at, and how are you struggling...

 

[ChockoRepublic]

hey u said u moved out.. do u live alone or in share accom ???

if so how much are we looking at, and how are you struggling...

he's struggling with his sexuality.

 

[Silver Persian]

Well, well well. Idealistic young libertarian comes crawling back to the welfare state.

You should probably get in touch with the people from Centrelink about your questions. I'm fairly sure you won't be penalised for reducing your hours at your current job - you may even receieve more in welfare benefits if you earned income is below ~200 a fortnight. As far as I know, the activity tests are a pain - but they're not massively rigorous - as long as you're legitimately seeking employment you should be fine.

The other thing I'd say is that you should ask some questinos about your current wage level. $11/hour must be well below the award rate - I'm working at Bakers Delight and I earn $16/hour as a 21 year old - which will go up to $17.50 in a few months.

 

[babikakez]

The other thing I'd say is that you should ask some questinos about your current wage level. $11/hour must be well below the award rate - I'm working at Bakers Delight and I earn $16/hour as a 21 year old - which will go up to $17.50 in a few months.

Exactly - its way too low. There are 16 year olds at Woolies earning more than that.

 

[withoutaface]

Dude if jew was in Sydney I could get you office work

 

[jennieTalia]

Due to financial necessity, I'm thinking of differing for a year, trying to find full-time work, passing the income test to be considered independent and then receiving youth allowance for the rest of my degree.

I'm 21, living away from home, paying rent and looking for a full-time job. I've never earnt enough money to be considered "independent" for youth allowance, but I don't think the independence test applies to Newstart.

My current casual job sucks, I'm getting paid $11 an hour and struggling to survive. I save everything, but if any emergency expenses come up, I will run out of money.

I'll take a full-time job as soon as I can find one, but I'm really struggling.

I'm pretty sure I'm eligible for Newstart.

Has anyone used it? How psycho are the activity agreements you must sign? Would they be okay with me holding out for a sales job, or would they be trying to push me into crap I didn't want to do, in industries I hate?

Would I be penalised for leaving my current casual job, or reducing hours? The risks are too high in my current job imo.

Does income received from Newstart payments count towards the $18k I need to earn to be considered independent?

My friend is almost 18 and gets paid about 8.50 dollars an hour at maccas. Wtf is that.
I get about 14, I'm just 18, and I'm at coles.

Yours seems well low for a 21 y.o.

 

[Graney]

Well, well well. Idealistic young libertarian comes crawling back to the welfare state.

If the labour market was deregulated, there would be a lot more jobs available and I wouldn't have any trouble finding full-time work.

Gotta play within the system as it stands.

That's how I've been justifying my hypocrisy to myself anyway.

The other thing I'd say is that you should ask some questinos about your current wage level. $11/hour must be well below the award rate - I'm working at Bakers Delight and I earn $16/hour as a 21 year old - which will go up to $17.50 in a few months.

I'm a delivery driver at dominoes. I have always been curious and thought often about asking for my award. I'm pretty sure how they get away with paying well below the minimum wage, is I'm either signed as a contractor or a trainee. The pizza industry are masters of paying ridiculous nothing wages.

I get like $1.20 per delivery. My wage overall, is probably less than $11/hour after accounting for repairs, maintenance and depreciation. I wrecked a tire this week and it cost me $160, most of a weeks wage.

I have an okay car, so I'm putting a $6000 asset at reasonable risk of being in a severe accident, stolen, vandalized or possibly written off, for a return of $11 an hour. That's a pretty poor investment.

I think they're scumbags, no one over the age of 17 should work for that little, and the whole pizza delivery industry is insane and is unsustainable at current prices, and I'm a bad person for supporting the industry. I've kept it up because it was a good job during semester, with the extreme flexibility, it's bloody easy and it's fun.

You can't have a home delivered product for so little. If petrol prices hit $2/L, the industry won't exist in five years, or will be a far more limited, premium service imo. I bet the head of domino's corporate Australia lies awake at night worried about this.

 

[lil_georgie_gal]

Yea get out of the pizza industry, the pay is shit and always well below. When i worked at pizza hut when i was nearly 15 i was getting paid $4.75 an hr (mind u this was 5yrs ago nearly but still i switched jobs to a few months later into a retail store and my pay rocketed to nearly $8/hr).

Def go talk to centrelink im pretty sure ull classify for either youth allowance or newstart, only thing is u will have to report fornightly earnings at ur job to centrelink probs.

Goodluck with it!

 

[Graney]

I better get cracking lol

Govt considers cash bonus for unemployed - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[Riet]

Yo you qualify for independence as you've moved out of home and you're paying your own rent, as far as I understand it.

If you've got to move to go to uni then you're independent right out of the gate.

EDIT: Holy shit they have shifted THOSE motherfucking goalposts.

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/ea3b9a1335df87bcca2569890008040e/f510076349be359fca2574ab0001fd6f!OpenDocument&Highlight=2,independence

"you have been out of school for at least 18 months and have earned at least 75% of the maximum rate of pay under Wage Level A of the Australian Pay and Classification Scale in an 18 month period, or"

That's the one I'm aiming for, pretty sure I've done so already but whatevers.

 

[withoutaface]

Yo you qualify for independence as you've moved out of home and you're paying your own rent, as far as I understand it.

If you've got to move to go to uni then you're independent right out of the gate.

EDIT: Holy shit they have shifted THOSE motherfucking goalposts.

Youth Allowance independence test

Yeah the independence guidelines are p retarded.

 

[SnowFox]

I get $370 per fortnight from youth allowance and barely survive, If your out of school, get a better job, because seriously you wont be able to survive.

 

[Graney]

Aren't you living at home?

$370 is heaps dude, I've lived off less for a long time...

 

[dieburndie]

$11 is ridiculously low, surely you could find something that pays better than that.
Have you spent much time looking for a new job?

 

[Graney]

I really want to find an adult job, for grown ups. I'll do basically anything, but I'm trying to avoid going back to woolies/coles/hospitality rubbish. Somewhere my intelligence will receive a basic level of respect, or at least I won't be constantly hassled by cunts. Want something full-time. Been applying for every sales job that comes up, but I have no experience.

Ideally, a vacancy will come up at Australia Post, and I'll be able to get the Postie job I always dreamed of.

Centrelink will set us up with an employment agency and hopefully something will come out of that. There's not that many vacancies in Newcastle at the moment.

 

[dieburndie]

I really want to find an adult job, for grown ups. I'll do basically anything, but I'm trying to avoid going back to woolies/coles/hospitality rubbish. Somewhere my intelligence will receive a basic level of respect, or at least I won't be constantly hassled by cunts. Want something full-time. Been applying for every sales job that comes up, but I have no experience.

Ideally, a vacancy will come up at Australia Post, and I'll be able to get the Postie job I always dreamed of.

Centrelink will set us up with an employment agency and hopefully something will come out of that. There's not that many vacancies in Newcastle at the moment.

ah that really sucks. best of luck anyway.