I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
I am very pleased to present to the House the Carer's Leave Bill, 2000. This Bill is a first, not just in Ireland but, I would confidently say, in Europe, where the State, through the provision of carer's leave, will allow people to take temporary leave from their employment for up to 15 months or 65 weeks to look after persons in need of full-time care and attention.
In today's world, people's expectations are far different from what they were ten or even five years ago. With our booming economy, people's quality of life has improved immensely. People now have more disposable income. The number of people in employment has risen from 1.22 million in 1994 to 1.67 million today, an increase of 450,000, or 37%. Allied to this is the fact that there are some 270,000 part-time employees in the workforce, the majority being women. All of these healthy and welcome developments have created a new scenario in society i.e. that of balancing the needs and demands of the workplace with those similar needs and demands outside it. This is sometimes described as the formulation of "family-friendly" policies.
Why do we need "family-friendly" policies? In an Irish context, the answer is quite simple. The family has and will continue to be the cornerstone on which our society is built. This Government is committed to continually reviewing its policies on how to successfully marry the changing needs of the workplace with the ever-growing demands of family life. Family-friendly workplace arrangements allow us to address the need to reconcile work and family life to the mutual benefit of workers and employers.
It is against this background that we are debating the Carer's Leave Bill. This Bill, taken together with the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Bill, 2000, which I hope we can bring to Second Stage very soon, and the budget announcement of extended maternity leave entitlements, bear testament to this Government's commitment to fostering family-friendly arrangements which are in harmony with the needs of our dynamic and enterprising economy.
Nowadays, people are living longer. Recent actuarial research suggests that in the near future life expectancy could be as high as 120 years. We all know that this will not be the reality. However, the message is stark. As we move into the new millennium, life expectancy is growing and, as a consequence, major demographic changes in terms of the age profile of our population are happening on an ongoing basis. In order to address these concerns, the Government has already provided that pension costs for future generations will be met, in part, from some of our current budget surplus. This initiative, which is overseen by the National Treasury Management Agency, has been widely welcomed as being innovative and far-reaching.
In the same vein, we must also look at what other initiatives are needed to cater for the needs of an ageing population.
One such obvious area is that of caring for our sick and elderly. Down through the years many people have made – and continue to make – time available to care for our sick and elderly, be they children, parents, grandparents, relatives or just good neighbours and friends. We have, as a people, always tried to provide sick and elderly people in our community with the privacy and dignity they require in times of need, but most particularly and not least in the cases of terminally ill people, family members and relatives, in their final months and days. Many people gave freely of their time in this regard without much recourse to the State coffers. However, because of rising caring costs there has been a recognition by the State that a form of income support is needed to assist or facilitate those people who want or are required to care for persons on a short-term basis.
It was against this background of fostering for future generations the culture of caring for each other that the Government announced its intention in the 2000 budget to introduce a new insurance-based carer's benefit scheme. This scheme was introduced by my colleague, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, with effect from 26 October 2000. The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs' main criteria for entitlement to payment of carer's benefit of £88.50 per week – £96.50 per week from April – plus dependant allowances are as follows: An employee qualifies for carer's benefit if he or she satisfies the following criteria: (i) is 16 years of age, or over; (ii) satisfies the PRSI contribution conditions; (iii) has been in paid employment for the previous three-month period; (iv) leaves his or her employment to provide full-time care to a person who has been certified as in need of full-time care and attention; – this person is known as a "relevant person" under the Social Welfare Act, 2000; (vi) is not employed or self-employed outside the "home" during the period of the receipt of the benefit, except as prescribed; (vii) is living in the State; and (viii) is not living in a hospital, convalescent home or other similar institution.
With regard to "relevant persons", the deciding officers or appeals officers of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs will decide, on the basis of a medical assessment carried out by that Department on the basis of information provided by the person's general practitioner, whether or not the "relevant person" is in need of full-time care and attention.
The PRSI contributions required for a person claiming carer's benefit for the first time are as follows: (a) 156 contributions paid since entry into insurance; (b) the person must satisfy one of the following: (i) 39 or more contributions paid in the governing contribution year; or (ii) 39 or more contributions paid in the 12 months immediately before the commencement of the benefit; or (iii) 26 contributions paid in the current governing contribution year and 26 contributions paid in the previous governing contribution year.
For second or subsequent claims the employee will simply be required to have been in paid employment for the previous 13-week period, or have been in receipt of carer's benefit in that period.
An employee who is entitled to carer's benefit may engage in limited self-employment within the home or employment outside the home for up to ten hours per week. The employee may also pursue an educational or training course, or take up voluntary or community work for up to ten hours per week. During such absences, adequate provision must be made for the care of the "relevant person".
This new insurance-based carer's benefit scheme allows employees who have been certified by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs as meeting the eligibility criteria for a "carer", to take temporary leave from their employment to look after persons in need of full-time care and attention. This new benefit will be paid for a period of up to 65 weeks – 15 months – to those who meet the qualifying contribution conditions outlined above.
The Government has decided that this carer's benefit scheme should be complemented by a statutory entitlement to carer's leave – hence this Bill before the House. The provisions of this Bill will entitle employees to carer's leave and protect their employment rights over the period of the absence – and allow them to return to their jobs. Carer's leave is not simply a complement to carer's benefit, it is a significant, independent right.
The Carer's Leave Bill fulfils a Government commitment in budget 2000 and in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness that legislation would be introduced to provide for a carer's benefit payment scheme for certain employees with a parallel right of carer's leave for employees. In approving the drafting of this Bill, the Government directed that the provision of the carer's benefit scheme and the carer's leave scheme should be harmonised as far as possible. To that end, in preparing this legislation, my officials and officials at the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs have worked closely over the past number of months with a view to aligning the schemes and the respective application procedures.
In addition, we have had detailed discussions with the social partners, ICTU and IBEC, and both support the intent of the Bill. ICTU and IBEC raised a number of issues, mainly of a technical nature, that are being considered and which we can discuss further in committee.
The following are key features of the carer's leave scheme, as set out in the Bill. The leave may be taken by any employee who satisfies the conditions set down in the Bill. The leave is for the purpose of personally providing full-time care to a person who is objectively assessed by deciding officers of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs under the carer's benefit scheme as being in need of full-time care and attention, and that person will be referred to as a "relevant person". Subject to certain exceptions, the leave terminates when the employee ceases to personally provide the full-time care and attention to the relevant person, for example, where the care of that person is assumed by another person or institution. The employee must have been in the continuous employment of the employer from whose employment the leave is to be taken for at least 12 months before he or she can commence the leave. There is no minimum hours threshold. Only one employee may be on carer's leave in respect of the person being cared for at any one time. An employee is entitled to a maximum of 65 weeks in respect of any one relevant person. The 65 week entitlement may be taken as a continuous period or in separate unit periods, the aggregate duration of which does not exceed 65 weeks. An employer may refuse, without reason, to permit an employee to take carer's leave for a period of less than 13 weeks. Carer's leave is unpaid by the employer but reckonable for periods of leave of 13 weeks or less for the purposes of employment rights other than superannuation and annual leave. An employer and an employee may agree to postpone, curtail or vary the leave in any way they so wish. Disputes about certain entitlements under the Bill in general are referable to a rights commissioner with a right of appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Issues arising in relation to, in particular, (i) whether the person in respect of whose care the leave is taken is a relevant person for the purposes of the Bill; and (ii) whether an employee is providing the full-time care and attention as required by the Bill, are to be decided by a deciding officer of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, who also carries out the assessments regarding relevant persons under the parallel carer's benefit scheme. This is a right to appeal a decision of a deciding officer under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1992, to an appeals officer. The decision of a deciding officer or a decision made on appeal from a decision of a deciding officer, given in writing, is to be taken as sufficient evidence of the fact of the decision.
In practice, under the provision of this Bill, employees wishing to avail of carer's leave will be required to notify their employer six weeks before they intend to take the leave and produce evidence as soon as possible from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs that the relevant person, that is, the person for whose care the leave is being taken, is in need of full-time care and attention. Applicants for carer's leave can then use an acknowledgement of receipt of their application from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, when they first approach their employer in regard to seeking carer's leave, not later than six weeks before their proposed commencement of the leave. This acknowledgement from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs will constitute evidence for employers of the bona fides of the application by the employee for carer's leave. It will also ensure that applicants do not have to get two medical assessments carried out for carer's benefit and or carer's leave.
The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs has indicated that the medical assessment and the issue of the acknowledgement of application will be dealt with as soon as possible. In general, the turn-around in processing time will be within one to two weeks. Two weeks before commencing carer's leave applicants will be required to confirm their intentions to their employer.
To Deputies who may fear that persons not meeting the carer's benefit criteria may be excluded from eligibility for carer's leave, I stress this will not be the case. Between the two Departments, we want to make the process as user friendly as possible. We do not want a situation whereby a relevant person will have to undergo two medical assessments, that is, one for carer's benefit and one for carer's leave. To that end, the medical assessment form has been designed by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs in such a way that it not only covers applications for carer's benefit but carer's benefit and or carer's leave as required. It should be noted particularly that failure to qualify for carer's benefit by not having the necessary PRSI contributions will not necessarily mean that an employee cannot avail of carer's leave. In such circumstances, the employee can be facilitated at his or her own expense with such leave provided the other requirements are met in relation to relevant persons and full-time care and attention.
While Deputies may also be concerned that such a procedure may delay approval of carer's leave, in fairness to all carers, it would be wrong to ask them to go through the medical procedures of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs on the one hand for carer's benefit and through their local GP for carer's leave. Therefore, it is better all round that the application and certification procedures for both schemes be aligned as much as possible. Accordingly, the above arrangement will be the most effective for everyone involved, but especially for the most important person in all this, the person receiving the care who will not be required to undergo two medical assessments.
Section 17 provides that any disputes in relation to the medical assessment and the provision of full-time care will be dealt with only by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. Disputes in relation to employees' employment rights, for example, length of continuous service, return to work and redundancy situations, will be dealt with by a rights commissioner in the first instance and the Employment Appeals Tribunal, on appeal, as appropriate. This is similar to redress mechanisms set out in other employment rights legislation such as the Maternity Leave Act, 1994, the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995, and the Parental Leave Act, 1998. All these have worked well and I have no doubt that they will also work effectively for carer's leave in the future. This Bill, with the exception of the medical assessment procedures outlined about, is very much modelled on the Parental Leave Act, 1998.
I will briefly outline the main features of the Bill. Sections 1 to 3 are standard provisions dealing with the short title. Section 4 ensures that persons cannot contract to nullify or exclude the application of the provisions of the Bill, but it allows for the provision of arrangements between an employer and an employee that are more favourable than those provided for in the Bill. Section 5 is a standard provision, which states that the cost of administering the Bill incurred by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment will be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. Section 6 defines the qualifying conditions for entitlement to carer's leave. An employee is entitled to carer's leave, without pay, of 65 weeks in respect of any relevant persons, the other elements of which I have mentioned. Section 7 requires an employee to notify his or her employer of any change of circumstances that affects his or her entitlement to carer's leave. The section also provides that an employee may avail of leave in relation to the care of a second relevant person, while already on leave in relation to a relevant person, where the two relevant persons concerned are residing together. The period of leave in relation to the second relevant person shall commence on the date on which the deciding officer of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs notifies the employee that that person is a relevant person.
Section 8 specifies that carer's leave, in respect of any one relevant person, may be taken in one continuous period of 65 weeks or in a number of periods, the aggregate duration of which does not exceed 65 weeks. An employer may peremptorily refuse to grant carer's leave for any period of less than 13 weeks. There must be a gap of at least six weeks between periods of carer's leave taken by an employee in respect of a particular relevant person. That is a practical measure agreed by both sides, employers and employees' representatives.
The section also provides that an employee who has taken carer's leave in respect of a relevant person cannot commence a period of carer's leave in respect of another relevant person until a period of 12 months has elapsed from the date on which leave in relation to the first relevant person terminated.
As we are approaching 1.30 p.m., and there is a good deal of technical material in the remainder of my speech, with the permission of the House, may the remainder of my speech be reported in the Official Report? Is that allowed?
