Dr. Tom Boland:

Gabhaim buíochas le baill an choiste as an gcuireadh teacht anseo chun labhairt leo inniu. Broadly, welfare payments aim to fulfil several functions. The first is alleviating poverty and providing a social safety net. The second is promoting equality, hence means tests which debar those who have other income or assets from state support. The third is shaping society, for instance, making sure that work pays, that is, ensuring welfare payments are not a disincentive to work. Clear signalling about entitlements is vital to public trust in the social safety net but means tests often muddy these waters.

As my colleague stated, means testing has formed part of welfare systems since before the Poor Laws but has changed considerably over the decades. Beyond the simple objective of limiting government spending, it can serve other functions. For instance, in May 2022, the Government instituted a means-test disregard of up to €14,000 for room rental, which was considerable and dramatic.

Generally, welfare measures which are automatic and universal enjoy broad political support. For instance, child benefit is not means tested, and any attempt to introduce means testing despite vast inequalities of income and wealth between recipients would be unpopular, I think. By contrast, targeted and conditional welfare measures, for instance, jobseeker's assistance, are means tested, and this equally enjoys popular support. Making such payments unconditional and non-means tested would be politically very complicated.

We see that political opinion on welfare payments and means testing is nuanced. Creating new provisions, for instance, a second tier of means-tested child benefit as recommended recently by the ESRI, might be very tricky.

Turning to the research, over the past decade, with my colleague Dr. Ray Griffin and other researchers, we conducted more than 150 interviews with jobseekers - people in receipt of jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's allowance. Only those on jobseeker's allowance are means tested. These means tests were never popular and in a very few cases led to individuals being denied reasonable supports or having their payments drastically reduced. For some, means testing was intrusive and humiliating. However, means testing was less an issue than new elements of the system, specifically pressure from Intreo around jobseeking efforts, being required to take training or courses and the threat and implementation of penalty sanctions.

Moving towards recommendations, existing means testing of welfare payments is complex and might seem fit for purpose but really only with regard to minimising State expenditure. Means testing could be used more as an instrument of social policy to encourage things rather than just to minimise spending, for instance, the aforementioned disregard of room rental income. This was justified as alleviating pressures on housing and the measure has largely been welcomed. Extending similar disregards should be considered by this committee and the Department of Social Protection in its review. For instance, entitlements for most welfare payments are reduced in line with spousal income, which can mean married, living together or maybe even in a "durable relationship", if I can draw on that particular recent phrase. It is a very small disregard of only €60 per week. The problem is this practice presumes the family is the primary economic unit, which almost implies the male breadwinner model, and the rule applies equally to all couples. On principle, many of us argue that welfare payments should be paid to individual citizens rather than making people dependent upon their spouses. For those in precarious work, short contracts or on low incomes and moving in and out of work and the welfare system, means testing is a cause of considerable anxiety.

I suggest a recommendation that the provision of a substantial disregard of spousal income, equivalent to the rental disregard or even as high as the average industrial wage, would serve to strengthen the safety net for struggling families. Such a measure would ensure that work pays within households and give confidence to jobseekers in non-standard careers.

I welcome this discussion. While means testing may seem like a mere technical exercise in a system that is very difficult to change, there is scope to change what we do and incentivise particular sorts of things through disregards. It is therefore welcome that this matter is being considered at this committee.