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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 17 Dec 1987

Vol. 376 No. 11

Written Answers. - Christmas Bonus Qualification.

16.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of people who would otherwise have qualified for the Christmas bonus, who may not now qualify because of their inclusion in a Jobsearch scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Special arrangements were made by the Minister for Labour whereby AnCO pay a compensatory sum to certain people on mainline AnCO courses to offset the loss to them of the Christmas bonus and fuel allowance. This arrangement applied to persons who started their course on or after 17 August 1987 and who were on long-term unemployment assistance the day before they started. It was considered appropriate to make a concession to this group because the AnCO training allowance was linked to the unemployment assistance rate with effect from that date. Persons who started on an AnCO course before 17 August 1987 had a training allowance calculated by reference to the unemployment benefit rate which is considerably higher.

It is not feasible to estimate how many people might have progressed to the long term unemployment assistance rate but for the fact that they transferred on to a mainline AnCO course.

Persons on the Jobsearch course itself are not affected as they remain in receipt of social welfare and, therefore, preserve whatever other welfare entitlements they might have.

Persons going on various Manpower schemes forego the Christmas bonus because they cease to be in receipt of social welfare payments. This has always been the position and there is nothing new about it happening this year. Persons on Manpower schemes are in an employment situation and the schemes allow participants to augment their income by part time work etc.

The group most likely to be affected in the manner envisaged in the question are long term unemployment assistance people who take up places on social employment schemes. So far 8,770 have been placed on social employment schemes under the programme. The Department of Labour estimate that generally speaking 70 per cent of participants on SES are single. Accordingly, this group would not be affected as they receive £65 a week as against £34 unemployment assistance or £42.30 unemployment benefit. Of the 30 per cent of married participants only those with an adult dependant and three dependent children could show a loss by reference to their position if they had remained on welfare. It is thought that there is about 6 per cent of these in the group of 8,700 as a whole, that is approximately 500600.

Finally, there is one other group who could show a notional entitlement to the Christmas bonus. These are people who, because of a period on a course or scheme, interrupt their progress towards becoming entitled to the long term unemployment assistance rate. During the period a person is on a scheme or course their progress towards completing the 15 months required for long term unemployment assistance is suspended for the duration of the course or scheme. However, that has been a feature of the social welfare code since 1985-86 when changes were introduced to eliminate other difficulties that had existed up to then.

These changes provided that a social welfare recipient could spend up to 12 months on an AnCO course or Manpower scheme without forfeiting the progress he had made towards qualifying for the long term unemployment assistance rate. That had not been the case up to then. Accordingly, the fact that time spent on an AnCO course or Manpower scheme is not reckoned for the 15 months required for payment of long term unemployment assistance predates Jobsearch and has not been affected by it. This consideration meant that persons on unemployment benefit and short term unemployment assistance could not be included in the arrangements decided on for those who were actually on long term unemployment assistance when they started on their mainline AnCO course.

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