Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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186. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the analysis undertaken into the distributional impact of the new jobseeker’s pay-related benefit ahead of its adoption; and the number of people expected to receive lower payments under the jobseeker’s pay-related benefit than they would have received under jobseeker’s benefit. [30895/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit is a new social insurance income support which has replaced the Jobseeker's Benefit scheme for people who have become fully unemployed since 31 March 2025. On 31 March 2025, there were almost 10,730 claims awarded.

Jobseeker's Benefit payment rates are based on income bands which can result in significant differences in benefit payments for those near the edge of the bands, and high replacement rates for those with low levels of employment. In addition, the vast majority of claims for Jobseeker’s Benefit are in respect of the personal rate only, indicating that that scheme structure is not appropriate for the vast majority of customers.

Under Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit, payment rates are directly linked to a person's previous earnings, subject to maximum and minimum rates.

When developing the new scheme, my department carried out analysis of the entitlements of Jobseeker’s Benefit customers under Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit versus what they would receive under Jobseeker’s Benefit. This analysis showed that the vast majority of people would be better off on Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit than on Jobseeker’s Benefit.

A person with at least five years contributions who earns at least €750 per week will qualify for the maximum rate of €450. At the end of May, 45% of all Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit claims were in payment at the rate of €450.

A person working full time hours at minimum wage earning €540 per week will be paid between €324 and €270 per week, depending on their contribution record and duration on the scheme. This represents a weekly increase of up to €80 on the current personal rate of Jobseeker's Benefit payment.

The minimum weekly rate of payment for the scheme is €125. This compares favourably to the minimum on Jobseeker’s Benefit of €109.50.

It is open to any person to apply for Jobseeker's Allowance if they would be financially better off on that means-tested scheme, due, for example, to the person's family composition or previous earnings. Households who depend on lower incomes would be expected to satisfy the means test.

In some cases, other payments may be more appropriate for the household, for example, Working Family Payment.

Part-time, casual, short-time and seasonal workers can continue to avail of Jobseeker’s Benefit for the days that they are unemployed.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the deputy.