asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason for the delay in the payment of unemployment benefit to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and when benefit will be paid.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
348.
The reason for the delay in paying unemployment benefit to the person concerned is that inquiries had to be made about his contribution record before his claim could be decided. These inquiries have been completed and all unemployment benefit due has been issued.
349.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason for the delay in the payment of unemployment benefit to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and when benefit will be paid.
The reason for the delay in making payment in this case is that the entitlement to unemployment benefit of the person concerned cannot be decided until details of his previous periods of employment are known. He has been asked to supply evidence of his previous employment but has so far failed to do so. When the evidence is to hand, the case will be dealt with as quickly as possible.
350.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason for the delay in the payment of unemployment assistance to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal, who applied on 16 September 1980; and when payment will be made.
The reason for the delay in this case is that the means of the person concerned have to be investigated before entitlement to unemployment assistance can be determined. An officer called twice to the home of the claimant but he was not available. Further efforts are being made to interview him and when this is done his case will be dealt with expeditiously.
351.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware of the circumstances of a case (details supplied) where a person suffered injury some years ago which has resulted in recurring sick leave with no break of more than 13 weeks and as a result is deprived of pay-related social insurance benefit in addition to his disability benefit; why he is being deprived of his pay-related benefit; if he is further aware that the same person, if unemployed, would receive pay-related benefit with his unemployment benefit; if in these unusual circumstances he will agree to have pay-related benefit paid with the disability benefit in view of the extreme hardship involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973, provides that a person who had reckonable weekly earnings in the relevant income tax year shall be entitled to pay-related benefit in respect of any day which is a day of incapacity for work which forms part of a period of interruption of employment and in respect of which the person is entitled to disability benefit.
The Social Welfare Act, 1952, provides that any three days of incapacity for work or unemployment, whether consecutive or not, within a period of six consecutive days shall be treated as a period of interruption of employment and any two such periods not separated by a period of more than thirteen weeks shall be treated as one period of interruption of employment (i.e. linked claims).
The Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Regulations, 1979, provide that the relevant income tax year for the purposes of calculating pay-related benefit in respect of any day of incapacity for work which forms part of a period of interruption of employment shall be the last complete income tax year before the beginning of the pay-related benefit year (which commences on the first Monday in January of each year) in which the first day of incapacity for work in the period of interruption of employment occurred.
The person concerned who is 37 years of age had been mainly engaged in selfemployment up to May 1978 when he took up employment with CIE. He claimed disability benefit in May 1979 but was not entitled to payment as he had less than 26 contributions in the governing contribution year (1977). As he was not entitled to payment of disability benefit on his claim he did not qualify for pay-related benefit.
He again claimed disability benefit in August 1979 and for five subsequent periods up to November 1980. He received payment of disability benefit in respect of these periods of incapacity. He also calimed pay-related benefit with each of these claims but he was not entitled to payment on the ground that he had no reckonable earnings in the relevant income tax year (1977/78). In this connection as all the claims subsequent to the first claim were separated from each other by less than 13 weeks they are regarded as linked claims. Accordingly, the relevant income tax year for pay-related benefit purposes for all claims was the 1977-78 year which was the relevant income tax year appropriate to the benefit claim in August 1979 on which he first became entitled to payment of disability benefit. In the circumstances it is not possible to pay him pay-related benefit in addition to disability benefit on the claims in question.
The position in regard to unemployment benefit is that, if he had been unemployed for periods from August 1979 for which he was paid disability benefit, he would have been paid unemployment benefit in respect of those periods but he would not have been entitled to pay-related benefit in addition to unemployment benefit.
352.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the estimated contributions from (a) employers and (b) employees to the Social Insurance Fund in 1979 included in the figures £6.58 and £296.5m. respectively in parliamentary replies of 18 November 1980; and the approximate number of persons in receipt of the principal classes of insurance benefits in late 1979.
The estimated contributions from (a) employers and (b) employees included in the figures of £6.58 and £296.5 million are as follows:
|
Contibutions |
Employers' share |
Employees' share |
|
£6.58 |
£4.51 |
£2.07 |
|
£296.5 million |
£203.2 million |
£93.3 million |
The number of persons in receipt of each social insurance benefit at 31 December 1979 is given in the following table:
|
Benefits |
Number of recipients at 31 December 1979 except where otherwise stated) |
|
|
Disability Benefit |
69,460 |
|
|
Unemployment Benefit |
34,983 |
(at week ending 14/12/79) |
|
Old Age Contributory Pension |
63,441 |
|
|
Widow's and Orphan's Contributory Pension |
69,156 |
|
|
Retirement Pension |
30,750 |
|
|
Invalidity Pension |
14,327 |
|
|
Deserted Wife's Benefit |
2,525 |
|
|
Pay-Related Benefit |
32,900 |
|
|
Maternity Allowance |
16,700 |
claims paid in 1979 |
|
Maternity Grant |
43,200 |
do |
|
Treatment Benefit |
248,500 |
do |
|
Death Grant |
6,100 |
do |
353.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the actual or estimated outgoings on the principal social assistance benefits, including old age pensions, in 1979; and the approximate number of recipients in each benefit class late in that year.
The required information is as follows:
|
Assistance Scheme |
Expenditure (Provisional) in 1979 |
Number of Recipients at 31 December 1979 |
|
Old Age Non-Contributory Pensions |
£105,821,000 |
132,000 |
|
(including Blind Pensions) |
||
|
Children's Allowances |
£62,600,000 |
448,000 families (for 1,200,000 children) |
|
Unemployment Assistance |
£66,294,000 |
62,000 (including 21,000 Smallholders) |
|
Widows' and Orphans' Non-Contributory Pensions |
£9,941,000 |
10,700 |
|
Supplementary Welfare Allowances |
£4,961,000 |
6,900 weekly allowances |
|
Social Assistance Allowances: |
||
|
Deserted Wives' Allowances |
£3,252,000 |
2,900 |
|
Unmarried Mothers' Allowances |
£4,833,000 |
4,600 |
|
Single Women's Allowances |
£1,753,000 |
3,100 |
|
Prisoners' Wives' Allowances |
£301,000 |
200 |
354.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the approximate number of persons in receipt of each of the principal social assistance benefits at a date in 1980 subsequent to the April increase in benefits.
The details requested by the Deputy are set out in the following statement.
|
Social Assistance Payments |
Number of recipients at the latest date for which figures are available, that date being subsequent to April 1980 |
|
Old Age (non-contributory) Pension |
130,860 |
|
Unemployment Assistance (Including smallholders) |
64,745 |
|
Widow's (non-contributory) Pension |
11,315 |
|
Orphan's (non-contributory) Pension |
175 |
|
Deserted Wife's Allowance |
2,849 |
|
Unmarried Mother's Allowance |
5,358 |
|
Prisoner's Wife's Allowance |
177 |
|
Single Woman's Allowance |
3,100 |
|
*Supplementary Welfare Allowance |
16,787 |
|
Children's Allowance |
440,859 |
*Supplementary Welfare Allowance is administered by the Health Boards.