Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

41. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons aged 65 years, currently in receipt of jobseeker's allowance, and jobseeker's benefit; the activation requirements attaching to such persons; if such persons are counted as unemployed, in the Quarterly National Household Survey; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10605/15]

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

The total number of 65 year olds currently in receipt of job seekers allowance (JA) is 2,358, a further 2,342 are in receipt of job seekers benefit (JB) and 2,483 were signing on for credits at the end of February 2015.

Where individuals exit the workforce prior to pension age they may seek the support of either the jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance schemes. Jobseeker's benefit is a weekly payment to people out of work and covered by social insurance and legislation provides that, subject to the person having paid 156 or more qualifying contributions and satisfying the general scheme conditions, a person whose benefit expires in their 65th year will continue to be paid benefit up until the age of 66.

Persons who are in receipt of a Jobseeker’s payment are required to be available for full-time employment and genuinely seeking work. In addition, they must comply, when requested to do so, with the Department’s activation measures. Legislation currently provides for the imposition of penalties in the form of payment reductions for refusal or failure to engage, without good cause, with these measures.

Provision was made in Budget 2014 for older jobseekers as a result of which certain compulsory criteria were relaxed for persons aged 62 and over. The following provisions took effect from 1st January, 2014 and apply to fully unemployed jobseekers on JA, JB or Credits:

i. yearly signing arrangements, and

ii. option of transferring to EFT payments, and

iii. not subject to mandatory activation measures but may avail of employment supports; and

iv. not subject to Activation-related sanctions (Penalty Rates)

The core scheme provisions continue to apply to jobseeker customers aged from 62 years and older in the same way as any other jobseeker, namely they are required to be available for full-time employment and genuinely seeking work.

The Quarterly National Household Survey is carried out by the Central Statistics Office. Measures of unemployment from the QNHS are based on International Labour Office (ILO) definitions. To be ‘ILO unemployed’ a person must in the week before the survey be without work but available for work and have recently taken specific job-search steps. These classifications are based on self-declaration by the individual respondent, rather than his/her situation in respect of welfare payments. In recent quarters, the number of people reported as unemployed at ages 65 and over has been less than 1,000.