Written answers

Thursday, 25 January 2018

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Social Insurance Fund

Photo of Noel GrealishNoel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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201. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the scheme which allows self employed persons to claim the invalidity pension can be backdated in circumstances (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3725/18]

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to encouraging self-employment and entrepreneurship and this includes improving the level of PRSI based benefits available to self-employed people while ensuring the sustainability of the social insurance fund.

Self-employed contributors have been eligible for the invalidity pension from December 2017. For the first time, this has given the self-employed access to the safety-net of State income supports if they become permanently incapable of work as a result of an illness or disability without having to go through a means test. When deciding to extend access to this benefit to the self-employed, Government wanted to ensure that it was on a similar basis to that of those in employment. This is a real advance in the level of cover available to the self-employed.

To qualify for an Invalidity Pension from the Department, a self-employed person or employee must have 260 PRSI paid contributions (Class A, E, H or S) since they started paying social insurance and 48 PRSI paid or credited contributions (Class A, E, H or S) in the last complete contribution year or the second last contribution year before the date of their claim. This is a legislative requirement and contributions outside of the reference period cannot be assessed for the purposes of establishing the required 48 paid or credited contributions.

A person, with the required 260 paid PRSI contributions, applying for Invalidity Pension in 2018 must therefore have 48 paid or credited contributions in either 2016 or 2017 to meet the contribution conditions of the scheme.

In line with the original objective of this measure, any proposed changes to the current scheme conditions would have to be considered for other social insurance contributors including employed contributors. Therefore, any changes on the lines proposed would be expected to have significant financial implications and any decision to improve these provisions would be a matter for Government to consider in the context of the Budget.

I hope this clarifies the issue for the deputy.

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