Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 May 2023
441. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Social Protection if the Government has plans to review the criteria for home care workers' entitlement to DSP payments (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25551/23]
View answerThe Government is conscious of the recruitment and retention challenges in the home and community care sector and is supportive of properly informed measures to increase capacity in the sector. Towards this end, it established a Strategic Workforce Advisory Group to look at the labour force challenges facing providers of home-care services. The Group’s Report was published in October 2022, following extensive consultation, and found a range of issues impacting on the shortages in home carers and nursing home healthcare assistants, including the need for improvements in recruitment processes, pay and conditions of employment, training and career prospects, and wider sectoral reform.
My Department supports part-time working through a number of schemes, including casual and systematic short-time work arrangements for people on jobseeker payments. Under the current system a person can work up to three days and still receive a partial jobseeker payment. This provision applies to all recipients, regardless of the type of employment or profession. In addition, the Department provides the Working Family Payment for working families on low incomes, which is not based on days worked. However, in providing these supports, we also need to be careful not to allow the social welfare system to be used to subsidise unsustainable employment practices.
In line with Programme for Government commitments, I have launched a Strawman proposal for public consultation which is currently underway in relation to a new Pay-Related Jobseeker's Benefit payment and, in doing so, set out the parameters of a new Working Age Payment. Rather than using hours or days worked thresholds, this approach would utilise Revenue Commissioner real-time earnings data to adjust payment levels in line with a person’s weekly earnings. In this way it would guarantee a basic income floor and ensure that in all cases a person’s income increases when they work. This would represent a significant change and would address concerns around thresholds for days or hours worked.
My department is currently considering the responses received as part of the consultation process, which will help to inform next steps.
I trust that clarifies the position for the Deputy.
