Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 April 2019
324. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of her engagements with stakeholders as committed to in the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Act 2018 in relation to adequacy of social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15759/19]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that the issue of benchmarking and indexation of social welfare rates is not new. For example, previous studies were conducted by the Commission on Social Welfare in 1986 and the Social Welfare Benchmarking and Indexation Group in 2001.
The Roadmap for Pensions Reform, published last year, commits the Government to examine and develop proposals to set a formal benchmark target of 34% of average earnings for the state pension (contributory) and to institute a process whereby future changes in pension rates of payment are explicitly linked to changes in consumer prices and average wages.
My Department is currently considering options to implement this commitment, by examining previous studies on benchmarking and indexation, international experience and examination of a range of potential benchmarks and indices. It is worthy of note that the current rates of payment already closely mirror the benchmark levels proposed in previous reports including those proposed by the Social Welfare Benchmarking and Indexation Group 2001 which is usually relied on by advocacy and other groups.
In terms of the wider application of indexation of social welfare payments generally, Section 19 of the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Act 2018 provides that I, as Minister, will arrange to “consult with stakeholders on examining ways in which social welfare rates are increased with the aim of ensuring adequacy for all recipients and shall do so in quarter 1 of 2019”.
In this context my Department met with numerous interested stakeholders during quarter 1 2019 to solicit views on how the adoption of a benchmark, and a system of indexation, might work for social welfare rates more generally. The feedback from this consultation is currently being considered and will help to inform the development of our approach to benchmarking/indexation.
In addition I expect that the issue will be considered at my Department's Pre-Budget Forum in July. The Pre-Budget Forum includes representatives from the Community and Voluntary Sector, ICTU and IBEC among others. I would also welcome views from all political parties who are interested in this area and submissions should be made to my office.
Any change to the current process of setting social welfare rates of payment would require Government approval and would have to be considered in the overall policy and budgetary context. This would include taking account of stakeholder views, as well as considerations of cost, work incentives, poverty alleviation, policy alignment and the administration of any proposed system.
