Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his kind words. As Senators know, the purpose of the Social Welfare Bill is to give legislative effect to the changes announced on budget day. The Estimate for the Department of Social Protection in 2021 is €25.1 billion. This is more than €4 billion larger than the Department's budget day allocation for 2020. Much of that additional spending will be required to meet the ongoing costs of the pandemic unemployment payment and other jobseeker's payments and supports. I am pleased, even in these difficult times, to have also been able to secure almost €300 million for a series of targeted measures to support some of the most vulnerable groups in our society. In addition, the Bill provides for maintaining the State pension at age 66 years, as committed to in the programme for Government. This measure will cost more than €200 million in 2021 and more than €415 million in a full year.

It is important to point out that some of the social protection measures announced on budget day do not require primary legislation and, therefore, are not reflected in this Bill. These measures include the Christmas bonus, which I am pleased to say was paid last week, to a record 1.6 million recipients with payments totalling €390 million. I would like to take this opportunity to again encourage people to spend their Christmas bonus locally this year and support small businesses as they reopen their doors.

Other budget day measures that are not included in the Bill include an increase in the earnings disregard for disability allowance by €20 from €120 to €140. This will, like the Christmas bonus, be done by regulation. In addition, as a non-statutory scheme, the increase of €3.50 per week in the fuel allowance payment does not require amending legislation nor does the extension of the hot school meals programme.

I will now discuss the Bill. Section 1 provides for definitions used in this Bill. Currently, employer PRSI is charged at a rate of 8.8% on employee's weekly earnings of between €38 and €395. Section 2 increases the reckonable earnings threshold for employees by €3 to €398 whereby employer PRSI contributions can continue to be paid at this lower rate of 8.8%. This provision is designed to take account of the increase in the minimum wage from €10.10 to €10.20 per hour from 1 January 2021. Employers with employees benefitting from the increase in the minimum wage will continue to attract the lower rate of PRSI. It is intended that this section will come into operation on 1 January 2021.

Section 3 provides that, for the purposes of the Covid-19 employment wage support scheme, the Revenue Commissioners and the Minister for Social Protection may share informationrelevant to the effective operation of the scheme. A similar provision was included in legislation establishing its predecessor, the temporary wage subsidy scheme. The employer PRSI contribution for the TWSS is 0.5%. Section 4 provides that an identical employer contribution is made for the EWSS.

Illness benefit is at present paid after an initial waiting period of six days. Section 5 reduces the number of waiting days from six to three days. This will ease the financial strain on employees, especially those who do not have occupational sick pay arrangements as part of their contract of employment.As Senators will be aware, the Department of Enterprise, Trade end Employment is conducting a public consultation on the introduction of a statutory right to paid sick leave for all employees. I encourage all interested parties to engage with this consultation and make known their views on statutory sick pay.

Section 6 provides that self-employed pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, recipients can engage in limited self-employment and earn up to €960 over a rolling eight-week period and continue to maintain entitlement to PUP. Section 7 is a regulation-making power so that the Minister can prescribe by statutory instrument the income and expenses that can be included to reach the €960 limit. These provisions allow self-employed people to carry out some work and still retain the PUP. I know this measure has been warmly welcomed by taxi drivers, musicians, electricians, plumbers and other self-employed workers across the country.

Injury benefit is a payment made to employee contributors who are unable to work due to an injury or an occupational disease sustained in the course of their employment and who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. Section 8 reduces the waiting days from six to three for this payment. Like illness benefit, the reduction in waiting days is intended to take effect in March 2021.

Section 9 provides for an increase to the widowed or surviving civil partner grant by €2,000, from €6,000 to €8,000. This is the first time this grant has been increased since 2008. Where a person finds himself or herself in the tragic position where a loved one has passed away and he or she is looking after dependent children, this increased payment is intended to provide a small extra help. This measure will take effect from 1 January 2021.

Section 10 removes the earnings limit on the one-parent family payment. Currently, when a lone parent's earnings exceed €425 per week, he or she loses entitlement to one-parent family payment. The intention behind this provision is to tackle in-work poverty and remove a potential poverty trap by allowing single parents who are in employment to earn over the current earnings limit and retain this payment. This section will come into operation on 8 April 2021.

Section 11 provides for an increase of €150 in the carer's support grant, raising the payment to €1,850, which is the highest level at which it has ever been set. The carer's support grant is an annual payment for carers who look after people in need of full-time care and attention. The grant is paid annually in a single lump sum, usually on the first Thursday in June. The grant is not means-tested or taxable. This increase goes some way towards acknowledging the role family carers play in our society.

The working family payment, formerly known as family income supplement, is a weekly tax-free supplement available to employees with children. It gives extra financial support to people on low pay. Section 12 provides for a €10 increase in the weekly income thresholds of the working family payment for families with up to three children. This allows parents to earn more and still retain the payment. This section will come into operation on 7 January 2021.

Section 13 provides that the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment may continue for a period of six weeks after death in certain circumstances. This will bring the payment in line with other social protection payments for the unemployed, including jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit.

Sections 14 and 16 provide for increases in the qualified child payment. The weekly rate for a qualified child will increase by €2, from €36 to €38, for children under the age of 12. It will increase for children aged 12 and over by €5, from €40 to €45. This means increases in respect of 419,000 children. Sections 14 and 16 also provide for an increase of €5 in the living alone allowance. This will benefit more than 221,700 pensioners and people with disabilities.

Section 15 provides for an increase of €7.30 in the weekly payment of the island allowance, bringing the rate to €20 per week for people living on an offshore island. It is an increase to the weekly value of certain social welfare payments. The intention of this is to compensate for the additional costs of living on the islands when compared with people resident on the mainland.The intention of this is to compensate for the additional costs of living on these islands when compared with people resident on the mainland. As Minister with responsibility for the islands, I am pleased to have been able to provide this measure, which is the first time the island allowance has been increased since it was introduced over two decades ago.

Section 17 repeals the increase in the State pension age. The programme for Government commits that the planned increase in the State pension age next year will be deferred. It will remain at 66 years pending the report of the Commission on Pensions. The Commission on Pensions has been established and will report by June 2021. In the meantime, the Bill provides that the State pension age will remain at 66 years and not increase to 67 years on 1 January 2021 or 68 years in 2028. This will allow the Commission on Pensions to consider State pensions policy issues fully and make recommendations for the future unfettered. Section 18 provides for the Short Title to the Bill and its construction and collective citation with the Social Welfare Acts.

In the context of a budget that has to be constrained due to dealing with the public health crisis caused by Covid-19 as well as the potential consequences of Brexit, we have focused on the vulnerable groups in society who are most at risk. Given the environment we are operating in and the major economic challenges we are facing, it was simply not possible to do everything we wanted in budget 2021. We have sought to target resources to support our most vulnerable, including those who live alone, carers, people with disabilities and low-income families.

As we speak about the Social Welfare Bill, and the many positive measures contained in it which will take effect from 1 January 2021, it is important to reflect on the year gone by. I wish to take this opportunity in the Seanad to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the staff of the Department of Social Protection during this unprecedented year. As public representatives we all engage with the staff of the Department at local level through our constituency offices. I know the Members will agree with me in acknowledging the extraordinary effort the staff in the Department have put in this year at a time of national crisis to ensure payments were issued to those who needed them. To date, under the pandemic unemployment payment, the Department has issued over 13 million payments to 800,000 people. Let us put that into perspective. It is the equivalent of seven years' worth of jobseeker's applications in eight months. That gives Members some idea of the scale of the task with which the staff were faced. In the past ten days alone, over €500 million issued between the Christmas bonus and the arrears on the pandemic unemployment payment. That included €389 million issued to over 311,000 people as part of the Christmas bonus and a further €130 million in pandemic unemployment payment arrears issued to over 286,000 people. These are enormous numbers in financial terms and in terms of the number of people impacted in that ten-day period alone.

What is sometimes forgotten is that the Department of Social Protection and its staff have managed to do all that work this year on top of everything else that they do as part of their normal day-to-day work. This includes processing pensions, disability and carer's allowances as well as applications for all the other payments. It is sometimes easy to take for granted that everything will run smoothly and that payments will be made every week. However, a great deal of work goes on behind the scenes to make that happen. It really has been an extraordinary effort across the board by staff in every county this year and I wish to acknowledge those efforts in the Seanad today. I imagine all Senators will join me when I say a big "thank you" to the staff of the Department of Social Protection. They too have been front-line workers during this pandemic.

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, and I look forward to hearing the contributions of Senators on the Bill.