Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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647. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the action she will take to address the anomalous position of workers who work for low wages for less than 19 hours a week over more than three days but cannot currently qualify for income support; her views on whether the present arrangements create in some cases a disincentive to take up or retain paid employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38014/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure on the jobseeker’s schemes of €3.66bn in 2013. The family income supplement or FIS payment is designed to provide income for employees on low earnings with families. The Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure on FIS of nearly €230 million in 2013.

Under the general conditions of the jobseeker’s schemes a person must be fully unemployed for at least 4 in any 7 days. To qualify for payment of FIS a person must be engaged in full-time insurable employment which is expected to last for at least 3 months and be working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight or 19 hours per week.

Where persons take up employment which involves working more than 3 days per week but less than 19 hours the part-time job incentive scheme may, subject to scheme criteria, support them in making such a transition to employment. The scheme allows persons who are long-term unemployed to take up part-time employment for less than 24 hours per week and receive a weekly income supplement. Participants in this scheme are expected to continue to make efforts to find full-time work.

More generally it is recognised that a changing labour market has resulted in a move away from the more traditional work patterns, resulting in an increase in the number of persons employed for less than a full week. This is an important policy issue for the Department but any changes to the current criteria could have significant cost implications. For that reason, the Department will consider this issue very carefully. In tandem the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare, which has already reported to me on a number of important policy areas, is now looking at the whole area of atypical work and I look forward to their recommendations on this issue by end year.