Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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450. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the social inclusion unit of her Department has undertaken any analysis or research into the impact in terms of poverty and social exclusion arising from the reductions in jobseeker's allowance to young jobseekers between 2009 and 2011; if she will publish this documentation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45801/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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A €100 per week rate of jobseeker’s allowance was introduced for claimants aged 18 and 19 with effect from end-April 2009. This new rate did not apply to certain categories of claimant including:

- all claimants with a qualified child;

- all claimants aged 18 and 19 who were already in receipt of or entitled to a maximum weekly rate of €196 per week prior to the introduction of the measure;

- those making a claim for jobseeker's allowance where that claim is linked to a jobseeker's allowance claim made within the previous 12 months to which the maximum personal rate applied;

- those transferring directly to jobseeker's allowance from disability allowance;

- those transferring to jobseeker's allowance immediately after exhausting their entitlement to jobseeker's benefit, and

- certain people who were in the care of the Health Service Executive during the period of 12 months before he or she reached the age of 18.

The application of the €100 per week rate was extended to those aged 20 and 21 in Budget 2010 along with the introduction of a new rate of €150 per week for jobseekers aged 22, 23 and 24. Provisions exempting certain categories of claimants from the application of the Budget 2010 measure were also introduced along the lines of those introduced in 2009 for persons aged 18 and 19.

While an analysis of the distributive and poverty impact of the main welfare and taxation changes in Budgets 2010, including the cumulative impact of those changes in Budgets 2009 and 2010 was completed subsequent to Budget 2010, it did not include a standalone analysis of the jobseeker’s measures detailed above.

Budget 2014 included measures whereby the application of the €100 weekly rate of jobseeker's allowance was extended to certain persons aged up to and including 24 years of age and the extension of the €144 weekly rate to certain persons aged 25. The Social Welfare and Pensions, Bill, 2013 currently before the Seanad includes provisions whereby a range of jobseekers aged 22 to 25 inclusive will not be affected by the new measure. These include all jobseekers with children and existing jobseekers aged 22 to 25 inclusive who already are in receipt of higher rates of payment.

My Department is now preparing an analysis of the main Budget 2014 tax and welfare measures. This Social Impact Assessment will include an analysis of the distributive and poverty impacts of these changes on different family types as well as the impact on at risk of poverty levels. The analysis will include the impact of the introduction of new rates for jobseekers aged under 25. Social impact assessment is an evidence-based methodology which uses a tax/welfare simulation model developed by the Economic and Social Research Institute to estimate the likely distributive effects of budgetary measures on income and social inequalities. I will be examining the analysis when it is finalised and I will publish it in due course.