Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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886. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to expand the scheme for self-employed workers to earn up to €480 a month and retain the PUP to PAYE workers. [32941/20]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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887. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there is a scheme in place for PAYE workers to work part-time while receiving the PUP. [32942/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 886 and 887 together.

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment is available to PAYE employees who have lost their employment due to the pandemic, are not being paid by their employer and who satisfy the qualifying conditions of the scheme. A self-employed person must have suffered a reduction in their trading income to the extent that they are available for other full time work to be eligible to apply for the scheme.

Income supports are available to employees who take up limited PAYE employment and are no longer eligible for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. They may opt to transfer to a jobseeker's payment which allows a person to take up employment where they are unemployed for at least 4 days out of 7 consecutive days. Jobseeker's Benefit is available to people who have sufficient social insurance contributions paid and satisfy the other qualifying conditions of the scheme. Short-Time Work Support is a form of Jobseeker's Benefit and is an income support payment for people who have been temporarily placed on a shorter working week by their employer.

Where a person doesn’t qualify for jobseeker's benefit they may be eligible for the means tested jobseeker's allowance.

Increased allowances may also be paid on jobseeker claims for qualifying adults and children.

I trust that this clarifies the position for you.

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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888. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps self-employed persons need to take to notify her Department following her announcement that self-employed persons can earn up €480 and remain on PUP; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32945/20]

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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929. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will address a matter in relation applications for the pandemic unemployment payment (details supplied). [33571/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 888 and 929 together.

In order to address concerns expressed by self-employed people relating to the difficulties they face in resuming activity, the uncertainty of income streams given the ongoing economic disruption and the fact that in many cases work will be of an occasional or intermittent nature during the initial period of a return to work, the Government introduced changes to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment as part of Budget 2021.

These changes included formal provision to enable self-employed people on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (including arts/entertainment sector workers and taxi drivers) recommencing employment to earn up to €480 per rolling four week period while retaining entitlement to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. The changes are effective from 13 October 2020.

In effect an earnings threshold of €480 per rolling 4 week period will be used to assess whether or not a self-employed person is substantively employed/unemployed. Any self-employed person earning below this amount will be considered to be unemployed for the purposes of assessing entitlement to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. The earnings threshold is aligned with the income disregard currently in place for people in receipt of Disability Allowance. A self-employed person availing of this does not need to seek approval from the Department and they do not need to report these earnings to the Department on a regular basis. They do need to keep a record of all income for the period.

The Earnings Threshold approach is being implemented in the first instance by means of self-assessment with spot checks of a sample of claims by Social Welfare inspectors and ultimately reconciliation with Revenue earnings returns.

Staff in the Department, including those in Intreo Centres and Branch Offices, have been briefed on the changes.

I hope that this clarifies matters for the Deputies.