Vol. 396 No. 3
160 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, in respect of sessional supervisors under community services order schemes, the rate per hour paid to such supervisors; in view of the time lapse involved, the reason the public service pay rises have not been applied; if public service pay rises will be applied; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
161 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice if he will clarify the position of sessional supervisors under the Community Service Order Scheme; whether they are considered as employees or self-employed; if they are considered self-employed, the reason the A1 pay-related social insurance contribution is deducted from pay and income tax is not; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that these supervisors wish PAYE to be stopped at source and thus avoid large bills for back tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 160 and 161 together.
Sessional supervisors employed under the community services order scheme are paid at a rate of £5 per hour. The question of applying public service pay rises to the rate is under consideration at present and I expect to be able to announce a revised rate in the near future.
Sessional supervisors are considered to be employees. The tax arrangements applying to them have been agreed with the Revenue Commissioners. I am not aware that the current tax arrangements, whereby end of tax year returns are made to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of each supervisor employed in the preceding year, has been a cause of concern to the supervisors employed under the scheme. The position is that they are engaged on projects for a maximum of 14 hours per week and unless they have income from other sources are for the most part unlikely to incur a tax liability during the income tax year. I am prepared to examine the position further in the event of any specific information about difficulties in relation to tax liability being made available to me.
