Ruth Coppinger
Question:1228. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated annual cost of increasing maternity benefit to €300 a week. [34601/17]
View answerThursday, 13 July 2017
Questions (1228)
Written answers
Maternity Benefit is a payment made for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed pregnant women who satisfy certain pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions in order to avoid the need for them to work pre and post-delivery of their baby. The original scheme was introduced in 1970 and was extended to include self-employed mothers with effect from June 1997.
In 2017 it is estimated that my Department will spend approximately €266 million on maternity benefit in respect of an average of 22,000 recipients per week.
The estimated full year cost of increasing maternity benefit to from the current rate of €235 per week to €300 per week would be approximately €73.4 million per annum. This estimate is subject to change over the coming months in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients for 2017.