Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021
515. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Social Protection if social insurance credits will be awarded to self-employed persons who have been in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment in 2020 and to date in 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46526/21]
View answerThe attribution of contributions measure is intended to ensure that persons entitled to and in receipt of certain Covid-19 income supports, including the pandemic unemployment payment, will not be disadvantaged in accessing social insurance benefits in the future.
The legislation underpinning the measure makes provision for the Minister for Social Protection, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and having considered certain matters set out in the legislation, to prescribe the number of self-employment contributions to be attributed to a self-employed contributor.
A self-employed contributor has a period of time following the end of the contribution year to remit and pay his or her social insurance liability for that contribution year. For example, self-employed contributors have until the end of October 2021 to file their self-assessment tax returns for 2020, including the payment of social insurance contributions where they are liable to do so for that year.
Once data on the social insurance returns made by self-employed workers in respect of 2020 are available towards the end of this year or early in 2022, I and my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will be in a position to prescribe, as appropriate, the number of self-employment contributions required to protect the social insurance entitlements of self-employed workers who were in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment in 2020 and who were not in a position to discharge their social insurance liability for that year. The matter of the attribution of contributions in respect of self-employed workers for the 2021 contribution year will be considered towards the end of 2022.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
