Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to present this Bill to the Seanad. It has a single straightforward purpose - to give effect to the announcement made in the Budget Statement 2019 to establish a new scheme of jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed from November of this year.

This new scheme will provide a social insurance support to self-employed contributors who lose their businesses and will provide them with the support and breathing space they need to reassess their next steps. The Bill is very much in keeping with this Government's policy of supporting self-employed people and entrepreneurs

The new benefit we are introducing reflects the Government’s aim of creating a supportive environment for entrepreneurship, including providing an income safety net to employees and self-employed alike. This Government has sought to encourage enterprise and, in particular, has sought to introduce a new deal for the self-employed when it comes to accessing their benefits.

Senators will recall that we extended treatment benefits and invalidity pension to the self-employed in recent years to ensure that they reach some parity with employees in the benefits they can access from the social insurance contributions. The introduction of a new jobseeker’s benefit scheme for the self-employed represents the next step in the Government’s work to extend PRSI benefits and will provide an income safety net to thousands of small and medium businesses throughout the country. For the first time, this gives the self-employed access to the safety net of income supports if they lose their self-employment, without having to go through the rigours of a means test.

Many of the features of the existing jobseeker's benefit scheme, which provides support to employees who have lost their jobs, will apply to this new scheme. For example, the personal rate of payment of €203 per week will be the same for both schemes. The duration of payment, for six months or nine months depending on the claimant’s social insurance record, will also be the same. The scheme has been designed to take into account the fact that PRSI contributions by the self-employed are paid by way of an annual lump sum.

The activation of self-employed workers who have had to close their businesses, and their re-engagement into employment, whether that is again in self-employment or as an employee, will be a priority in my Department. We are currently examining the activation supports available for this cohort, but in any event, claimants of the new payment will have access to the full range of activation supports currently available to all other jobseekers. This includes, for instance, referral to group information sessions, one to one interviews and subsequent caseworker support.

Self-employed people who are operating businesses at low levels of income can continue to access the means tested jobseeker's allowance scheme. There are almost 7,000 self-employed in receipt of this payment as of today.

I would now like to briefly outline the contents of the Bill, which contains nine sections in three Parts. Part 1 comprises section 1, which provides for the standard provisions setting out the Short Title of the Bill, its construction and citations, and commencement provisions.

Part 2 deals with amendments to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. Section 2 is again a standard provision which defines the principal Act used in this Part.

One of the consequences of introducing the new scheme is that it is necessary also to amend some of the provisions of the Act governing the existing jobseeker’s benefit scheme. These changes are provided for in sections 3 and 4. Section 3 extends the qualifying conditions for the existing jobseeker's benefit scheme by providing that the first condition to determine eligibility for payment can now be met by having 104 employment or optional contributions, for example PRSI class A contributions, as has always been the case, or by having have 156 self-employment contributions PRSI class S, which is being added. This positive change recognises that some people will have engaged in both employment and self-employment in their working lives. By recognising that either form of employment gives rise to entitlements within the social insurance system, this change will help to ensure that an individual will not be at a disadvantage as a result of a move from employment to self-employment.

Section 4 provides that where a claimant who is in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit, self-employed, also satisfies the qualifying conditions for jobseeker’s benefit, periods spent in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit, self-employed, will be treated as though jobseeker's benefit is being paid. This is a standard provision to ensure that a claimant does not secure a double benefit.

Section 5 is the key element of the Bill and provides for the introduction of a new Chapter 12A to the principal Act, which sets out all of the provisions governing the new jobseeker’s benefit, self-employed, scheme.

The new Chapter 12A provides for the general qualifying conditions for receipt of jobseeker’s benefit, self-employed, the social insurance contribution conditions, the rate of benefit payable, including reduced rate benefits payable where the average reckonable weekly earnings of the claimant fall below certain thresholds, the increases payable where there is a qualified adult or qualified children, the duration of payment, and the requirement to engage with activation services and disqualifications. These provisions mirror, to a great extent, the existing provisions governing entitlement to jobseeker's benefit. I do not propose to go through the detail of all of these aspects at this time, but we will have an opportunity to examine these in greater depth on Committee Stage.