Written answers

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Department of Social Protection

Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility

Photo of Dara MurphyDara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

103. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to introduce changes to PRSI contributions for self-employed persons in order that they might be guaranteed social welfare benefits; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38951/13]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which entitles them to access long-term benefits such as State pension (contributory) and widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's pension (contributory). Ordinary employees who have access to the full range of social insurance benefits pay Class A PRSI at the rate of 4%. In addition, their employers make a PRSI contribution of 10.75% in respect of their employees, resulting in the payment of a combined 14.75% rate per employee under full-rate PRSI Class A. (For employees earning less than €356 per week, the rate of employer's PRSI is 4.25%).

Self-employed workers may also access social welfare supports by establishing eligibility to assistance-based payments such as jobseeker's allowance and disability allowance. In the case of jobseeker's allowance they can apply for the means-tested jobseeker's allowance if their business ceases or if they are on low income as a result of a downturn in demand for their services. In general, their means will take account of the level of earnings in the last twelve months in determining their expected income for the following year and, in the current climate, account is taken of the downward trend in the economy. As in the case of a non-self-employed claimant for jobseeker's allowance or disability allowance, the means of husband/wife, civil partner or co-habitant will be taken into account in deciding on entitlement to a payment.

On 6 September 2013 I published the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare Group's report on the issues involved in providing social insurance cover for self-employed persons so as to establish whether or not such cover is technically feasible and financially sustainable. The Group found that the current system of means tested jobseeker's allowance payments adequately provides cover to self-employed people for the risks associated with unemployment. Consequently, the Group was not convinced that there was a need for the extension of social insurance for the self-employed to provide cover for jobseeker's benefit.

The Group found that extending social insurance for the self-employed was warranted in cases related to long term sickness or injuries. To this end, the Group recommended that Class S benefits should be extended to provide cover for people who are permanently incapable of work because of a long-term illness or incapacity through the invalidity pension and the partial capacity benefit. The Group further recommended that the extension of social insurance in this regard should be on a compulsory basis and that the rate of contribution for Class S should be increased by at least 1.5 percentage points. This is in line with the estimated level of contributions needed to provide access for the self-employed to Invalidity Pension contained in the 2010 Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund.

In the course of the Group's deliberations, the Group identified a range of issues associated with the subject of social insurance for the self-employed that should be addressed and have made a number of recommendations in this regard. These include, among others, the means assessment for self-employed income in terms of accessing jobseeker's allowance payments, credited PRSI contributions, self-employed access to activation and training schemes and the role that information campaigns might play in addressing information deficits, particularly with regard to entitlements to jobseeker's allowance.

The question as to whether the present arrangements regarding social insurance for the self-employed are appropriate has increased in prominence over recent years. I welcome the Group's finding that the current system of means tested jobseeker's allowance payments adequately provides cover to self-employed people for the risks associated with unemployment. The recommendation concerning long-term sickness or injuries is an important contribution to the policy debate regarding the range of benefits the self-employed might access through their social insurance contributions. In this regard, the 2010 Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund, published last year, determined that the self-employed are obtaining better value for the level of their current social insurance contributions than employees (the Actuarial Review found that the effective annual rate of contributions needed to provide the core full-rate State pension (contributory), currently available to self-employed contributors, is approximately 15%). This finding was noted by the Advisory Group in its recommendations. Consequently, the recommendations of the Advisory Group require further consideration in conjunction with the findings of the 2010 Actuarial Review relating to the level of contributions levied on Class S contributors and the current shortfall in this regard.

My colleagues in Government and I will now carefully reflect on the findings of the Advisory Group on this issue and will further consider the recommendations contained in the report taking into account future developments in terms of the budgetary and fiscal situation.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.