Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The main social welfare schemes for people who are unemployed are the jobseeker’s benefit (JB) and jobseekers allowance (JA) schemes which provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. Both of these schemes allow a person to work up to 3 days a week but they must be fully unemployed for 4 days in 7 consecutive days. The 2019 Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseeker’s schemes of €1.95 billion.

Jobseeker’s benefit (JB) is a contingency based social welfare payment typically for employees who have suffered a substantial loss of employment and have sufficient social insurance contributions to qualify. The PRSI contribution classes that count towards qualifying for JB are PRSI Class A, H and P. Individuals who are self-employed cannot typically access JB as PRSI Class S contributions do not qualify a person for JB. The contribution conditionality for JB requires a jobseeker to have at least 104 weeks qualifying PRSI contributions paid since they first started work and 39 weeks qualifying PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant tax year or, 26 weeks qualifying PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and 26 weeks qualifying PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.  The relevant tax year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which the JB claim is made. So, for claims made in 2019, the relevant tax year is 2017.

However, a self-employed person who has sufficient social insurance contributions as a PAYE employee could qualify for JB if they are engaged in self- employment for 3 days a week only, if they give up their self-employment or if their self-employment is considered to be subsidiary employment.  To be considered as subsidiary employment the relevant employment should be in addition to the jobseeker’s usual employment.  Also, either the amount of earnings or profit from the occupation cannot exceed €144 per week (€7,500 over 12 months), or the jobseeker must have a minimum of 117 PRSI contributions, paid immediately preceding the date of the claim or in respect of the last 3 complete contribution years.  However, the individual must still satisfy all conditions of the JB scheme, including being available for and genuinely seeking full-time employment.

If the jobseeker does not meet the qualifying contributions for JB they may be eligible for means tested JA or if engaged in farming they may qualify for means tested farm assist.

The new scheme for the self-employed, which I announced as part of the 2019 Budget measures, will extend a PRSI insurance based benefit to the self-employed who pay class S contributions and who lose employment.  This measure which will be introduced later this year builds on other significant improvements for the self-employed in recent years such as access to invalidity pension and treatment benefits.  This measure is part of the Government’s stated aim of creating a supportive environment for entrepreneurship, including providing an income safety net to employees and the self-employed alike.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.