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

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

“recognises the financial hardship the Covid-19 pandemic has imposed on households;

commits to continuing to support people and businesses affected by Covid-19;

notes that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has spent over €3.68 billion on the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) since its introduction in March 2020, and that this is expected to increase to some €5.2 billion by April 2021;

recognises that the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) and the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) are important supports put in place by the Government to counter the economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and that the Government is committed to supporting employment by means of a wage subsidy until the end of March 2021;

notes that TWSS was introduced as an emergency income support for employees of vulnerable firms and was in place from 26th March 2020 until 31st August 2020, and that over this period payments worth €2.85 billion were made to over 66,000 employers with over 664,000 employees receiving at least one subsidy, with an estimated 360,000 employees directly supported by TWSS at its close;

recognises that the PUP was introduced as an emergency measure to support people of working age who lost their employment and was originally intended to be a short 6 to 12 week payment — this scheme has supported almost 800,000 individuals;

recognises that changes to the payment rate since 17th September, 2020, means that the Government is in a position to extend the scheme until April next year and make it more sustainable by linking it to previous earnings;

welcomes that the Government has agreed that the scheme will remain open to new applicants until the end of 2020, and this means that anyone who loses their employment due to Covid-19 over the coming months, including those who may have returned to work but may be affected by new closures, can avail of the support;

notes that the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) was asked to undertake a social impact assessment of the impact of the introduction of revised rates of payment from September 2020 and found that the changes made had very little impact on the risk of poverty or deprivation;

recognises that workers from all sectors have been affected and continue to be affected by the job lay-offs as a result of Covid-19 and that income support arrangements need to treat all affected workers equitably;

notes that those 47,900 recipients whose prior income was less than €200 per week received €203 this week, and are better off than when they were working;

notes that 36,070 people who previously earned between €200 and €300 per week received a payment of €250 this week, and most people on the €250 payment are being paid in line with their pre-Covid-19 weekly income which on average was €248;

recognises that special arrangements are in place for self-employed people, and these arrangements mean that a person does not lose entitlement to the PUP if they take up intermittent or occasional work;

acknowledges that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has advised that it will take a reasonable and flexible approach in applying the ‘genuinely seeking’ work condition to workers who remain temporarily laid off in sectors that have not reopened;

welcomes that a total of some €112 million was provided to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection as part of the July Jobs Stimulus package to provide an expansion in employment services and supports including 45,500 new places on schemes and services — this includes the provision of €12 million for the extension of the Enterprise Support Grant to assist eligible self-employed individuals who exit the PUP to restart their business;

notes that a person of any age, in any sector, who is experiencing financial hardship can apply for financial assistance through the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s means-tested Supplementary Welfare Allowance;

welcomes the extensive range of supports provided by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, including the Restart Grant and the Restart Grant Plus which represent a combined total of €550 million set aside to assist businesses to meet ongoing costs while closed, and to help fund reopening costs; and

welcomes the sector-specific initiatives including for those sectors facing prolonged closures, including the arts and entertainment sector, tourism and hospitality and those by the National Transport Authority to assist taxi and other small public service vehicle drivers.”

I fully recognise the hardship that the Covid-19 pandemic has imposed on families and communities across our country. When the pandemic first struck in March, the Government acted swiftly and decisively to introduce a range of income, employment and business supports that were unprecedented in scale. The PUP and the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, were introduced practically overnight and ensured that hundreds of thousands of people were supported and incomes were protected.

The PUP was introduced by my Department as an emergency measure and was originally intended to be a temporary six- to 12-week payment. It is important to remember that, when it was introduced in March, no one believed it would still be in place six months later. It was introduced as a flat payment of €350. The flat payment was not perfect and, as many Deputies will be aware, it attracted plenty of criticism at the time, particularly in cases where people were being paid much more than while they were working. The flat rate payment allowed us to issue payments to more than 600,000 people at speed and ensure that no one was left without an income. It was a case of speed trumping perfection. We needed to get money to people quickly, and that is exactly what we did. Unfortunately, the impact of Covid-19 has been deeper and will last much longer than anyone anticipated in March.

The Government remains absolutely committed to supporting people impacted by the pandemic. That is why we have kept the PUP open for new applicants and extended it until April 2021. This means that what was originally supposed to be a 12-week payment will now be in place for more than a year. By extending the PUP, the Government has ensured that anyone who loses his or her employment due to Covid-19 over the coming months, including those who have returned to work but are now affected by the new level 3 restrictions, can avail of this support.

In order to extend the payment and ensure that we could continue to support those who needed it most, we had to ensure that the rates of payment were sustainable in the long term. In linking the payment to prior earnings, we have sought to protect those on the lowest incomes. For example, people whose prior incomes were less than €200 per week receive €203. They continue to be better off than when they were working. People who previously earned between €200 and €300 per week receive a payment of €250. Most people on the €250 payment are being paid in line with their pre-Covid incomes, which were €248 on average. Anyone whose prior income was more than €300 per week receives a payment of €300 per week. Approximately 129,500 people, or almost 60% of payment recipients, are being paid at the €300 rate. On average, this represents in excess of 60% of prior average income for this group of workers.

It is important to point out that, where people have dependent adults or children, they have the option of applying for a jobseeker's payment, which may actually be more financially beneficial to them.

Contrary to what some Deputies opposite might say, the steps the Government has taken throughout Covid-19 have helped to protect people on the lowest incomes. This is clearly supported by research undertaken by the ESRI, which found that 400,000 families would have seen their disposable incomes fall by more than 20% in the absence of policy measures such as the PUP.

This week, my Department issued payments valued at €55.2 million to 205,590 people in receipt of the PUP. To date, the scheme has supported approximately 800,000 individuals with a total spend of just over €3.6 billion. This spend is expected to increase to over €5.2 billion by April 2021. To put these figures in context, the amount of money spent on the PUP to date equates to over twice the total amount spent on jobseeker's allowance in all of 2019.

In this discussion, we need to be conscious of the other people in receipt of social welfare payments, including the more than 207,000 people currently on the live register. We will have a budget next week, and I must take account of all the other deserving requests from some of the most vulnerable people and sectors in our society – carers, people with disabilities and people who live alone. We need to be fair to them also.

Despite what some might believe, we do not have infinite resources. Thanks to the economic decisions taken by previous Governments, which the Deputies opposite opposed every step of the way, we are able to borrow to help us through this crisis. However, those borrowings will still have to be repaid. That point seems to be lost on some people in the House.

I wish to be clear about the requirement to be genuinely seeking work when one is in receipt of the PUP. My Department takes, and will continue to take, a responsible and flexible approach in respect of workers who remain temporarily laid off in sectors that have not reopened due to Covid-19 restrictions and who expect to return to their employment when their sectors reopen. If someone is impacted by restrictions and is waiting for his or her job to resume, we do not expect him or her to be looking for a job elsewhere. However, if someone has lost a job permanently and wants some assistance to help find work elsewhere, my Department is here to help.

As part of the July stimulus package, the Minister with responsibility for further education, Deputy Harris, and I secured an additional €200 million to expand employment, training and education supports. Any person seeking training or education support can contact the local Intreo centre, which will be happy to assist.

I am aware that self-employed people face a particular challenge in returning to work. Unlike other workers, there is no certainty as to what income a taxi driver, for example, might make upon returning to work. To address this issue, the PUP provides for special arrangements for self-employed people, in that a person does not lose entitlement to the PUP if he or she takes up intermittent or occasional work. This is an important feature for the self-employed, including those in the arts and entertainment sectors who may be offered infrequent gigs and still retain their pandemic unemployment payments. As part of budget 2021, I am exploring options with a view to providing some clarity and certainty to self-employed workers in this regard.

As the House is aware, the TWSS and the new employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, have been important supports operated by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners to employers and employees. The Government is committed to supporting employment by means of a wage subsidy until the end of March 2021. The TWSS, which operated from 26 March until 31 August, provided €2.85 billion to ensure that employees whose employers were affected by the pandemic could receive significant income supports directly from their employers through the payroll system. Over that period, 664,000 employees received the subsidy through the scheme.

At its close, 69,500 employers had registered with Revenue for the scheme. The temporary wage subsidy scheme was replaced with the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, from the beginning of September. This scheme allows employers to seek wage subsidies for a broader range of employees, including new hires and seasonal workers. Over 38,000 employers have registered with Revenue for the scheme to date.

The EWSS is in addition to the extensive range of supports and grants provided across Government to help business through this pandemic. A total of €550 million has been provided through the Government's restart grant to assist businesses to meet ongoing costs while closed and help fund their reopening costs. There are also a number of sector-specific initiatives in place to support the sectors raised by the Deputies today, including the arts, tourism and hospitality sectors. Across Government, we will be looking at further targeted supports to assist those sectors hardest hit by the pandemic.

I assure the House that the Government will continue to support people and businesses impacted by this pandemic as we have done at every stage over the last seven months. The pandemic unemployment payment and the wage subsidy scheme have been unprecedented supports in their scale and reach. They have proven to be extremely effective in maintaining incomes and insulating people against such a sudden and severe income shock. This is obvious from research conducted by the ESRI. In addition, data published by the Central Statistics Office in the past week showed that household disposable income has actually increased year on year by about 5%. Central Bank data also indicate that personal savings have increased dramatically. In fact, they have trebled in value compared with 2019. This Government will continue to act to protect people through the worst impacts of this pandemic. My Department alone will spend €28 billion this year. That will go towards supporting our most vulnerable, such as pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, people who live alone, lone parents and low-income families. We have spent €3.8 billion already on supporting people through the pandemic unemployment payment and we will continue that support until next April. Nobody can predict the trajectory of the virus and the payment may well be needed beyond next April, which is all the more reason that the Government must ensure that it is set at a level which can be sustained for the longer term.

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