Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 437: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of the successful claimants of jobseeker's benefit and health and safety benefit in each of the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 who would have been successful under the revised qualifying criteria introduced by budget 2009; the number who would have been refused under these new criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35632/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Entitlement to jobseeker's benefit is determined by the particular circumstances and situation that the claimant and his or her dependants are in at the time of the claim. As these circumstances can change during the course of any year, it is not possible therefore, to provide the information requested in the question.

In the light of the significant pressure on the public finances, and the Social Insurance Fund in particular, it has been necessary to make savings in some areas. However, these expenditure control measures have been kept to an absolute minimum. A number of these measures relate to jobseeker's benefit, including –

An increase in the underlying number of paid contributions for entitlement from 52 to 104;

The introduction of a condition whereby 13 paid contributions are required in the relevant tax year; and

A reduction in the maximum duration of benefit from 15 months to 12 months for those who have paid contributions for at least 5 full years and a similar reduction from 12 months to 9 months for those who have paid contributions for less than 5 full years.

However, a person affected by any of these measures will be able to claim jobseeker's allowance instead if they have limited means.

A further measure that is being introduced is an increase in the current weekly earnings threshold for the payment of reduced rates of benefit from €150 to €300. This measure addresses an anomaly that currently exists where some people who were previously working part-time can receive a higher rate of jobseeker's benefit than what they were earning while at work.

Some of these expenditure control measures also apply to health and safety benefit. However, given the alternative less stringent methods that are currently available for qualifying for this benefit, the above measures will generally have minimal effect in relation to health and safety benefit.

The table sets out the estimated numbers of people that will be affected by each measure during 2009 and in a full year, together with the associated savings.