I propose to take Questions Nos. 795 and 796 and 829 to 831, inclusive, together.
As part of a suite of measures announced in the July Stimulus, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will now be extended to April 2021.
By week-ending Friday, 31st July 2020, the PUP scheme will have cost an estimated €3 billion. The estimated cost of PUP in July 2020 is approximately €420 million. By the week-ending Friday 14th August when the PUP was scheduled to have ceased, it is estimated that the scheme will have cost almost €3.2 billion.
These estimates are informed by the forecast for unemployment in the Stability Programme Update, published in April 2020. In that respect, they are subject to change as labour market and payment trends develop.
The performance of the labour market in the weeks and months ahead, including the capacity of employers to respond to the phased return to work following the Covid-19 lockdown, and the level of any resulting residual unemployment, remains uncertain.
The cost of PUP in the period between August and December 2020 will depend on the ongoing suppression of the Covid-19 virus and on progress in reopening the economy and society. Both of these factors will determine the extent of labour market recovery between now and the year-end and the approach that the Government will take with respect to what further changes, if any, may be made to the PUP. These are matters that will be considered during the coming weeks and the estimated cost of PUP to the year-end and the allocation for 2021 will be determined as part of that process.