Vol. 429 No. 3
100 Mr. Byrne asked the Minister for Social Welfare his views on whether the extra condition of loss of employment applied to part-time workers who claim unemployment benefit from 4 January 1993 is counterproductive to employment incentive and social justice, particularly as applied to married women working outside the home; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Section 6 of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Social Insurance Provisions) (No. 2) Regulations, 1992 (S.I. No. 448/92) provided that a part-time worker who claims unemployment benefit must suffer a substantial loss of employment before he can qualify for benefit. These regulations came into effect on 4 January, 1993. In practice this meant that a part-time worker whose normal working week was four days or more would have to lose two days of insurable employment in order to qualify. In the case of a working week consisting of less than four days, the loss required was one day of insurable employment. These arrangements were improved by amending regulations which I made on 23 March 1993 reducing the "2-day" rule to 1 day. I will keep the situation under review.
101 Mr. Byrne asked the Minister for Social Welfare his views on whether there is an inequity in the situation whereby part-time workers earning £60 or more per week pay a Class A contribution, but yet must have an average earning of £70 per week to qualify for the full benefits deriving from a Class A contribution; the proposals, if any, he has to redress the situation for such persons earning between £60 per week and £70 per week; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Employees earning £25 or more per week are generally covered by Class A social insurance, and can qualify for the full range of benefits, including pensions. In the case of people earning less than £70 per week some benefits are paid at reduced rates. Such reduced rates are necessary because the income threshold for social insurance is at a relatively low level. It would not make sense to pay the full rate of short term benefits, currently £53 per week for a single person, to someone whose earnings are as low as £25 per week; such a person would have a strong incentive to give up work and claim benefit instead. The threshold of £70 was chosen to ensure that a single person would have an entitlement to the full rate of £53 per week only in circumstances where the incentive to work is maintained.
The PRSI exemption for low-paid workers is a separate feature of the social insurance system. People whose earnings in a particular week are under £60 do not have to pay the employee's social insurance contribution. However, the employer still has to pay the full employer's share, and the employee retains entitlement to social insurance benefits.
