Seán Canney
Question:357. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Social Protection the supports that are in place for self-employed people who fall ill; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19070/23]
View answerTuesday, 25 April 2023
Questions (357)
Written answers
Illness Benefit is the main short-term income support provided by this department to those who cannot work due to illness of any kind and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for Illness Benefit is based on medical certification and social insurance contribution conditions made. It is paid from the Social Insurance Fund and Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) paid under Classes A, E, H and P count towards Illness Benefit. Self-employed people generally contribute to the Social Insurance Fund under Class S and do not qualify for Illness Benefit.
There has been an extensive expansion of access to the range of social insurance benefits for self-employed contributors in recent years without any increase in the 4% rate of contribution made by them. In effect, self-employed contributors, in return for a contribution of 11 percentage points lower than the combined employer and employee contribution of 15.05% made in respect of employed contributors, have access to benefits which comprise over 90% of the value of all benefits available to employed contributors.
With this expansion, and where all qualification criteria for the particular scheme are satisfied, PRSI contributions in Class S give access to the following benefits:
• Adoptive Benefit;
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory);
• Jobseeker's Benefit (Self-Employed);
• Invalidity Pension (for long term illness);
• Maternity Benefit;
• Parent's Benefit;
• Partial Capacity Benefit;
• Paternity Benefit;
• State Pension (Contributory);
• Treatment Benefit; and
• Widows, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) Pension.
The benefits to which Class S PRSI does not provide access are Carer's Benefit, Health and Safety Benefit, Illness Benefit, and Occupational Injuries Benefits.
Self-employed people who cannot work because of a long-term illness or disability may qualify for Invalidity Pension or Disability Allowance. Further information on these schemes is available at www.gov.ie/illnessdisabilitycaring
With regard to additional short-term supports, this Department also provides Additional Needs Payments under our Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme to help meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. This includes exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from a person’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary. The payment is available to anyone who needs it and qualifies, whether the person is currently on a social welfare payment or in employment.
The Department keeps its range of supports under review to ensure that they meet their overall objectives. Any changes to the current system would need to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context and also in the context of the sustainability of the Social Insurance Fund.