Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 May 2015
74. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the estimated full year cost for replacing the three day rule for the payment of jobseeker’s benefits, with a sliding scale system determined by hours worked. [19563/15]
View answerThe jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The 2015 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseekers’ schemes of €3.01 billion.
It is a fundamental qualifying condition of both schemes that a person must be fully unemployed for four in any period of seven consecutive days, so a person working four or more days a week will not qualify.
It is recognised that a changing labour market has resulted in a move away from the more traditional work patterns, resulting in an increase in the number of persons employed for less than a full week.
This is an important policy issue for the Department but any changes to the current criteria could have significant cost implications for the jobseekers’ schemes. In particular any change to jobseeker's benefit criteria would have implications for jobseeker's allowance and a range of other working age schemes. In this context the cost associated with moving the jobseeker's benefit scheme to an hours-based system, as outlined, are not available.
The Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare has examined the issue of the interaction of the tax and social welfare systems to determine how the social welfare system can best achieve its goals of supporting persons through periods of involuntary unemployment, while incentivising work and disincentivising welfare dependency. I am currently considering the report of the Group.
