Under section 174 of the Supplementary Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993, people involved in trade disputes are excluded from receiving assistance under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. However, supplementary welfare allowance may be paid in respect of any adult or child dependants.
The personal rate of supplementary welfare allowance is paid in respect of the adult dependant and a child dependants allowance is paid in respect of each child dependant. Any household income including social welfare payments or benefits and-or earnings are assessed as means. Tax rebates are treated as income. Where strike pay is in payment, the excess over the adult dependant rate of supplementary welfare allowance, is taken into account as means. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme income from earnings is based on gross earning less PRSI and travel expenses to and from work.
In this case the employer is paying tax rebates to those on strike but is contrinuing to make all the normal deductions so that the net pay may, in some cases, be minimal. These deductions may include payments in respect of VHI contributions, mortgage repayments, savings, Credit Union Loans, sports clubs, pensions, etc.
The practice in the health board is to distinguish between voluntary and non-voluntary deductions. Those deductions in respect of savings credit union loans, mortgage repayments, sports clubs etc. are considered to be voluntary deductions which the person involved in the trade dispute could have access to if they contacted the salary section of the firm. The practice is to treat deductions in respect of pensions and VHI as non-voluntary deductions.