Written answers

Tuesday, 28 March 2006

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Social Welfare Benefits

11:00 pm

Photo of Arthur MorganArthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 286: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the estimated cost per annum of increasing paid maternity leave to 52 weeks where maternity benefit would be 100% of pay up to the present maximum. [12109/06]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Entitlement to maternity benefit for employees is contingent on entitlement to maternity leave — legislation which is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Where women have accrued the requisite number of contributions required to establish entitlement and they are certified by their employers as entitled to statutory maternity leave, maternity benefit is paid for 20 weeks of their absence from work.

Maternity leave and benefit arrangements have been significantly improved in recent years. Most recently, budget 2006 provided for paid maternity leave — and thus maternity benefit payments — to be extended from 18 to 22 weeks. These additional four weeks of maternity leave became effective on 1 March 2006 and will assist some 10,800 women each week. The full year cost of this extension to the social insurance fund will be €32.5 million. A further four-week extension will be implemented in 2007, bringing the total period of paid maternity leave and benefit to 26 weeks. Taken together, the full year cost of the 2006 and 2007 extensions will be €64 million.

The cost implications of extending the duration from 22 weeks to 52 weeks while also increasing the payment rate to 100% of reckonable earnings with the existing ceiling would depend on the spread of earnings of those who are claiming. This will require a data extraction of current claims to ensure the reply is based on firm calculations. I will, therefore, write to the Deputy over the next few days with the relevant information.

Under the current arrangements maternity benefit is not taxable. The percentage figure of 80% was designed to give a payment corresponding to net pay less tax refunds. If maternity benefit payments were to be assessed at 100% of reckonable earnings, some consideration would have to be given to whether to current tax arrangements would be appropriate.

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