Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 November 2018
206. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of cases of alleged bogus self-employment that were substantiated when reported to and examined by the SCOPE section of her Department and subsequently overturned on appeal by the Social Welfare Appeals Office in each of the past five years by industry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47572/18]
View answer208. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of cases of alleged bogus self-employment that were substantiated when reported to and examined by the SCOPE section in each of the past five years by industry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47580/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 206 and 208 together.
The Department’s Scope section makes in excess of 1,000 employment status determinations each year covering a range of issues including directors of companies, family employments, partnerships and public sector employments. Cases are not categorised by industry.
The number of cases involving a direct conflict of employment or self-employment status is relatively small.
In 2017 Scope section made 138 decisions resulting in a class A employment decision. Of these, 35 could be described as disputed employment/self-employment cases.
In the current year they have made 113 decisions resulting in a class A employment decision of which 27 could be described as disputed employment/self-employment cases. The table below gives the figures for the last five years.
Table 1.
|
Year |
Total decisions |
Total No. class A (employee) |
No. of employee/self-employed cases |
|
2013 |
1552 |
205 |
13 |
|
2014 |
1275 |
209 |
50 |
|
2015 |
1061 |
188 |
41 |
|
2016 |
1027 |
138 |
28 |
|
2017 |
1097 |
138 |
35 |
|
2018 to date |
1049 |
113 |
27 |
In instances of dispute as to the correct employment status, Scope records the determination made but does not designate cases as “bogus self-employed” as it is not correct to describe all cases in which a person is deemed to be an employee rather than self-employed as “bogus self-employment”.
Following a Scope decision, the employer will be liable for class A PRSI for the full period of employment. This can be a significant penalty for a business. Most employers cooperate fully with the Department’s inspectors in insuring compliance following a Scope decision. Where they fail to comply then additional measures, including prosecution, can be brought to bear.
Regarding the number of cases overturned on appeal, the table below shows the total number of Scope decisions each year and the number that are appealed.
Table 2.
|
Percentage of Scope decisions that are appealed 2013-2018 |
|||
|
Year |
Total decisions |
Total No. appealed |
% of decisions appealed |
|
2013 |
1552 |
73 |
4.70 |
|
2014 |
1275 |
75 |
5.88 |
|
2015 |
1061 |
101 |
9.52 |
|
2016 |
1027 |
52 |
5.06 |
|
2017 |
1097 |
83 |
7.57 |
|
2018 to date |
1049 |
55 |
5.24 |
Table 3 below outlines the result of appeals in respect of Scope cases. This includes all Scope appeals. It is not possible to provide figures specific to cases involving bogus self-employment.
Table 3.
|
SCOPE appeal outcomes 2013-2018 (to end of October) |
|||||||||||
|
Allowed |
% |
Part allowed |
% |
Revised |
% |
Disallowed |
% |
Withdrawn |
% |
Total |
|
|
2013 |
14 |
20.9 |
0 |
0.0 |
4 |
6.0 |
43 |
64.2 |
6 |
9.0 |
67 |
|
2014 |
13 |
11.2 |
4 |
3.4 |
20 |
17.2 |
62 |
53.4 |
17 |
14.7 |
116 |
|
2015 |
20 |
18.7 |
0 |
0.0 |
5 |
4.7 |
71 |
66.4 |
11 |
10.3 |
107 |
|
2016 |
30 |
21.6 |
4 |
2.9 |
20 |
14.4 |
72 |
51.8 |
13 |
9.4 |
139 |
|
2017 |
34 |
24.5 |
4 |
2.9 |
11 |
7.9 |
37 |
26.6 |
53 |
38.1 |
139 |
|
2018 |
22 |
28.9 |
2 |
2.6 |
3 |
3.9 |
39 |
51.3 |
10 |
13.2 |
76 |
|
Totals |
119 |
20.6 |
14 |
2.4 |
59 |
10.2 |
281 |
48.7 |
104 |
18.0 |
577 |
As can be seen, approximately one fifth of appeals of Scope cases are upheld and approximately half are rejected. Those that are “revised” are revised by the original Deciding Officer in Scope section on foot of additional information.
In conclusion, 5-10% of Scope decisions are appealed each year, and of these, approximately 20% are overturned on appeal.
[Note: the numbers of appeals in the two tables are not the same for each year. Table 2 is the number of cases sent for appeal that year; Table 3 is the number of appeal decisions made that year.]
