Written answers

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Department of Social Protection

Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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403. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which the self-employed can qualify for various social welfare supports now and in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18343/17]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Self-employed people who earn €5,000 or more in a contribution year, are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4%, subject to a minimum annual payment of €500.

This provides them with access to the following benefits: State pension (contributory) and widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s pension (contributory), guardian’s payment (contributory), maternity benefit and adoptive benefit and, since September 2016, the newly introduced paternity benefit.

Core to the Programme for Government is improving the position of the self-employed generally, including the commitment to introduce an enhanced PRSI scheme for the self-employed.

Making progress on this commitment has been one of my key priorities since becoming Minister in this Department. On Budget Day, I was pleased to announce a number of important measures which will benefit the self-employed.

From the last week in March, the self-employed now have access to the treatment benefit scheme which includes free eye and dental exams, and contributions towards the cost of hearings aids. Treatment benefit entitlements will also be extended, for all workers including the self-employed, from October 2017 so as to provide further dental and optical benefits.

More significantly, self-employed contributors will be eligible for the invalidity pension from December 2017. For the first time, this will give the self-employed access to the safety net of State income supports if they have a serious illness or injury that prevents them from working without having to go through a means test. These measures will affect more than 300,000 self-employed contributors.

The self-employed will also benefit from the further increase in Earned Income Tax Credit announced by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, as well as the extension of entrepreneurship supports.

All of the self-employed improvements were introduced without any increase in the 2017 rate of PRSI contribution paid by self-employed workers.

I plan to continue extending cover for the self-employed to other benefits on a phased basis in future Budgets. In this regard, in 2017, my Department will carry out detailed work to establish how to provide a better safety net for self-employed including, for example, access to schemes such as jobseeker’s benefit and carer’s benefit.

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