Vol. 421 No. 8
244 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the granting of maternity benefit calculated at 70 per cent of the amount the woman was earning in the reckonable year within two tax years before the claim was made can result in a serious loss of her income if she was also on maternity leave during the reckonable year; and if he has any proposals to remove this anomaly.
The weekly rate of social insurance maternity allowance payment is 70 per cent of the claimant's average reckonable weekly earnings in the relevant tax year, subject to a minimum payment of £60 per week and a maximum payment of £154 per week. The relevant tax year is the last complete income tax year before beginning of the benefit, i.e. calendar year in which the first day of maternity leave occurs.
Maternity benefit is not treated as income for the purposes of determining average reckonable earnings. However, the minimum payment of £60 under the scheme assures that recipients whose earnings in the relevant tax year are low do not have their entitlements reduced below the level of other analogous social welfare payments.
An EC Directive concerning the protection of pregnant workers is currently under consideration. It is expected that this Directive will be adopted before the end of 1992. The maternity benefit scheme will be reviewed in the light of the Directive once it is adopted and the issue raised here will be considered in that context.
245 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of persons who are in receipt of alleviation payments.
246 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Social Welfare if, in relation to the temporary alleviation payments introduced in 1986, he will outline (a) the number of persons in receipt of payments at the latest date for which figures are available and (b) the average payment; and if he will give details of the total number broken down according to social welfare category.
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 245 and 246 together.
As part of arrangements made in 1986 for implementing EC Directive 79/7 on equal treatment between men and women in matters of social security, the then Government put in place a number of temporary alleviation payments.
These alleviation payments, initially £20.00 per week for a person whose spouse was receiving a social welfare payment in her own right and £10.00 per week plus half rate increases for children where the spouse had income of over £50.00 per week from employment, were made from November 1986 for a period of one year.
During 1987, the Government decided to continue the alleviation payments beyond the 12 month period set by the previous Government but to phase them out over a period of time. Phasing out began in 1988 with the payments being gradually reduced each year to their present level of £12.00 and £6.00.
247 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will review the request of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 7 for a free electricity allowance in view of the fact that she was a previous recipient under her late husband's name.
In order to qualify for a free electricity allowance a person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment and be living alone or with certain "dependent" categories of people.
The person concerned is in receipt of a qualifying payment but is residing with her son who is in full-time employment. The "living alone" condition of the scheme was not satisfied in her case and her application for the allowance had to be rejected on these grounds.
However, under an extension to the scheme introduced with effect from 1 October 1990, pensioners aged 80 years or over are allowed to retain the free electricity allowance in a situation where someone comes to live with them. Furthermore, the allowance can be restored to any person aged over 80 where she/he had previously lost it on these grounds.
