Ms Mary Kennedy:

The point made by the actuarial review was that the self-employed are getting very good value for their 4% and the correct level they should be paying for their State pension, on an actuarial basis, is 15%. It said that the jobseeker's benefit would cost an extra 1% on top of the 15%, not 11%. It said the self-employed should be paying 15% for the long-term benefits they receive and it suggested a rate of 16% to provide for jobseeker's benefit. The review further stated that to fund the State pension, plus jobseeker's benefit, plus invalidity pension, the rate of contribution would be 17.3%.