Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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802. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will address the anomaly by which persons in receipt of a widow's pension can receive the emergency Covid-19 payment if they lose work due to restrictions but persons in receipt of a widow’s pension cannot qualify for illness benefit. [12743/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment has been introduced as an emergency measure so that payments can be made as quickly as possible to the large number of people who have become fully unemployed due to the pandemic and Government has extended the payment until 10th August

The conditions for receipt of this emergency payment are that a person must be of working age between 18 and 66 years old, have been in employment immediately before 13th March and have lost their income from employment due to the pandemic.  A self-employed person must have suffered a collapse of income and be available to take up other full-time employment if it was available, in order to qualify for the emergency payment

Some social welfare payments, for example the widow’s pension scheme, make provision for people to work and remain in receipt of a full or partial payment.  If a person on one of these payments, between the ages of 18 and 66, meets the condition of having lost employment, it will be possible to receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment while continuing to receive the existing social welfare payments.  The notable exceptions are Illness Benefit, Daily Expenses Allowance and Jobseeker Payments (with the exception of casuals who have lost their employment due to the pandemic and people in receipt of Short Time Work Support). 

Illness Benefit is not payable if a person is also getting any of the following payments at the full rate:

- Widow's/Widower's and Surviving Civil Partners Pensions, which includes OccupationalWidow's/Widower's Pension

- One-Parent Family Payment, which includes Deserted Wives Benefit, Deserted Wives Allowance and Prisoner's Wives Allowance

However, if a person is getting a reduced rate of any of the above payments, they may also get a reduced rate of Illness Benefit, so that the combined amount of both payments is not greater than the rate of Illness Benefit to which they are entitled.

I trust that this clarifies the matter.