Vol. 431 No. 3
109 Mrs. Doyle asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason maternity benefit payments are not added to salary payments in calculating total annual income when a second claim for maternity benefit is being made within two years of the first.
110 Mrs. Doyle asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will take social welfare payments into account as income when calculating maternity benefits as these payments are now being considered as taxable income.
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 109 and 110 together. Maternity Benefit is payable to women in employment for a period of 14 weeks, provided they fulfil certain PRSI contribution conditions. The rate of payments is 70 per cent of the claimant's reckonable earnings in the relevant tax year, subject to a maximum weekly payment of £154 and a minimum of £60. These rates will be increased to £159 and £65 respectively from July.
The calculation of maternity benefit entitlement is set out in Regulations. Neither maternity benefit nor any other short term Social Welfare payment can be treated as reckonable earnings for the purposes of these Regulations.
The maternity benefit scheme is currently under review in the light of the recent EC Directive on the Protection of Pregnant Workers. The calculation of reckonable earnings is one of the issues addressed in that context.
