Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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659. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number receiving pandemic unemployment payments per week to date in 2021; and the cost of these payments per week to date in 2021. [16540/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is available to employees and the self-employed who have lost their job on or after 13th March 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The expenditure to date in 2021 for the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is €1.8 billion with over 5 million payments made.

These figures are provisional and are subject to reconciliation.

The table below provides the number and value of payments weekly from 8th January 2021 up to 30th March 2021.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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660. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason the pandemic unemployment payment was set at €36 below the poverty line; and if she plans to bring the payment at least in line with the poverty line. [16541/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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When the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP ) was initially introduced it was set at a flat rate of €203 because it was intended to last for 12 weeks and those with adult and or child dependents would apply for a jobseeker’s payment instead. However, given the scale of the social and economic impact of the pandemic, it wouldn’t have been possible to properly process the huge volume of these jobseekers claims and, instead, the €350 rate was introduced, which was aligned with the jobseekers payment for a 2 person household. The rate was also roughly equivalent to average earnings in the two most affected sectors – retail and hospitality.

Since 16 October 2020 PUP has been paid at 4 rates ranging from €203 to €350 and is aligned to prior gross earnings to ensure that the rate is fair and sustainable over the duration of the scheme, which has been extended until 30th June 2021.

€203 is paid where prior earnings were less than €200 which is more than recipients were paid when they were working. The rate of €250 is paid where earnings were between €200 and €299.99. It is estimated that on average, most recipients on this rate are receiving more on PUP than when they were working or at least almost 84% of their prior nett income. €300 is paid where prior earnings were between €300 and €399.99 which on average equates to 86% of prior employment earnings for a single person.

The maximum rate of €350 is paid where prior earnings were €400 or more.

The ESRI undertook a social assessment of the impact of the of the proposed 4 PUP rates before their introduction in October 2020. The analysis considered the distributional effects of the new PUP rates with reference to changes in household disposable income by income, family type and the impact upon poverty rates. The effects of the new PUP rates indicate that the changes result in a very small reduction in disposable income of just above one per cent. The analysis indicates that the new PUP rates would increase slightly the at-risk of poverty rates for everyone by 0.6 of a percentage point.

It should be noted that where there are adults or child dependents a person can opt for a jobseeker’s payment if their prior earnings were below the earnings band to qualify for a higher rate of PUP.

Furthermore, my Department provides for additional targeted income supports for those, including PUP recipients, who are experiencing financial difficulties, under the means tested Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme such as Rent Supplement, Fuel Allowance and Urgent and Exceptional Needs payments where appropriate.

I trust that this clarifies the position for you at this time.