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Illness Benefit

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Questions (781)

Seán Sherlock

Question:

781. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of scrapping the waiting days for illness benefit of reducing it to one and three days respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22587/20]

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Written answers

Illness benefit is a short term payment made to insured people who are unable to work due to illness. The payment is funded by the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) through the payment of PRSI contributions by workers and employers and, in the event of a shortfall between contributions received and benefits paid, the Exchequer. The SIF is central to Ireland’s system of social protection and the Government needs to ensure that it can provide adequate and sustainable social insurance pensions and benefits for a growing and ageing population.Current arrangements provide that payment of illness benefit begins from the seventh day of the illness. No payment is made for the first six days, known as “waiting days”. Waiting days have been a long standing feature of the social insurance system and are a feature of similar social security schemes in many other countries. In other countries the waiting period can be greater than that which applies in Ireland and is often accompanied by a requirement for the employer to pay what is known as statutory sick pay during this waiting period. In Ireland many employers pay sick pay during this period without any statutory obligation to do so. Where employees do not have an occupational sick pay scheme they can avail of the supplementary welfare scheme during the waiting period, subject to satisfying the qualifying conditions.The cost of reducing the number of waiting days from six to three is estimated to be approximately €32.5 million per year. Estimates of the cost of reducing the waiting days to one are not available.

My Department regularly reviews its supports and payments schemes to ensure that they continue to meet their objectives. Any change to the current arrangements would have to be considered in a budgetary context.

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