Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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505. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the changes, if any, that have been made to jobseekers allowance and jobseekers benefit eligibility for employees who have been temporarily laid off or put on short time since 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34359/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Jobseeker's benefit is a weekly payment to people out of work and covered by social insurance. If a person does not qualify for jobseeker’s benefit they may qualify for means tested jobseeker's allowance. In 2012, my Department spent over €738m on the jobseeker’s benefit scheme and at the end of 2012 there were some 85,000 recipients of jobseeker’s benefit. For the same period my Department spent €3.05 billion on the jobseeker’s allowance scheme and at the end of 2012 there were 294,000 recipients of jobseeker’s allowance.

Where an employee is put on short time working by their employer they may be entitled to the Systematic Short Time Scheme. Under this scheme the number of days an individual is working has been reduced systematically each week so that they are now working less than the normal working week in the employment concerned. For the days a person is not working they may be entitled to a social welfare payment.

In order to qualify for this scheme short-time working must be systematic in that there must be a clear repetitive pattern of employment each week. Persons temporarily laid off are not classified as short-time but may claim jobseeker’s benefit subject to the same conditions as any other worker.

The main changes to the jobseeker schemes that affect workers on short time or those who have been temporarily laid off since 2011 are as follows:

- Budget 2012 provided for a change in payment week for jobseeker’s benefit. Where a benefit recipient is working part-time or in casual employment their benefit entitlement is now calculated with reference to a 5 day, rather than a 6 day, week. This measure does not impact on the systematic short-time scheme, which has always been based on a 5 day working week.

- Budget 2012 also provided that Sunday working is now taken into account when calculating the amount of jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance to be paid. This measure only impacts where a recipient works on a Sunday.

- Budget 2013 provided that, from April, 2013, the duration for which jobseeker’s benefit is paid will be reduced from 12 months to 9 months for recipients with 260 or more contributions paid and from 9 months to 6 months for recipients with less than 260 contributions paid. This measure may reduce the duration of benefit to which a short-time worker will be entitled.