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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 9 Nov 2000

Vol. 525 No. 4

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

50 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the redress available for an employee who, having had PAYE and PRSI deductions made from wages by an employer over a period, finds that these payments have not been paid to either Social Welfare or Revenue; and the benefits that are available from his Department for such an employee. [25078/00]

Employers are required to deduct pay-related social insurance contributions from the wages of their employees. The PRSI contributions, which are a percentage of an employee's reckonable earnings, are normally payable by both the employer and the employee and remitted by the employer to the Revenue Commissioners in the first instance for transmission to my Department.

Where non-compliance with PRSI legislation is reported, an inspector of my Department will examine the employer's employment records, the facts regarding the employment will be established and any PRSI arrears due will be assessed and collected or advised to the Revenue Commissioners. Social welfare inspectors will advise Revenue of outstanding PAYE matters which they uncover during the course of their employer inspection work.
Where a benefit claim is affected or delayed due to the non-payment of PRSI contributions in respect of a period of employment, an inspector of my Department can, if he or she is satisfied that the employment took place, recommend that the employee's contribution record be credited as if the contributions had been paid, in order to facilitate payment of the benefit claimed.
Where an employer has failed to pay PRSI contributions in respect of an employee or where an employer fails to comply with any requirement relating to the payment and collection of employment contributions, any benefit lost by an employee or any other person arising out of such failure is recoverable from that employer.
If, during a period of an investigation by an inspector into the circumstances of an employment, an insured person is without an income a claim can be made for unemployment assistance or supplementary welfare allowance, which are means tested, as an interim measure.
If the Deputy has a particular case in mind he could supply the details to my Department for investigation.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

51 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his plans to increase, supplement or in any way improve the level of payments to widow's or widowers, pensioners and others dependant on social welfare payments to compensate for losses due to inflation; if his attention has been drawn to the degree to which current inflation levels have eroded the income of such people; if he has received any representations to indicate the likely level of this erosion; if he will now or at some stage in the future make good the losses they have incurred in 2000 to date; if he will introduce an integrated social welfare policy to eliminate the possibility of a repeat of the situation in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25084/00]

Gerry Reynolds

Ceist:

116 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on whether welfare recipients are hardest hit by current inflation; and his plans to reduce this hardship as the unemployment assistance increase of £4 per week in 2000 has been wiped out by inflation. [25332/00]

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

128 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the plans he has to bring the actual value of social welfare payments up to the level promised in the Programme for Government in view of the inflation levels in the intervening period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25367/00]

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

131 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the plans he has to compensate recipients of invalidity pension and disability allowance for losses caused by high inflation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25370/00]

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

132 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the plans he has to address the hardship caused to recipients of old age pension arising from inflation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25371/00]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 51, 116, 128, 131 and 132 together.

I share the Deputies' concerns in relation to the impact of inflation on people dependent on social welfare payments. As the Deputies will recall, the budget last December provided for a £7 a week increase for pensioners over 66; a special increase of £5.90 a week for invalidity pensioners aged under 65 years; and a £4 increase for other recipients under 66 years. The £7 increase for pensioners represents an increase ranging between 7.9% and 8.9%, while the £4 general increase represents an increase ranging between 5.2% and 5.6%.

Since this Government took up office, social welfare payments have been substantially increased in real terms. For example, social welfare pensioners aged 66 years and over have received total increases of between 23% and 27% compared with an increase of 11.2% in the cost of living during the same period.

It is also clear that for many social welfare recipients and their families, the overall rate of increase in payment this year will be ahead of the increase in the cost of living. Pensioners who received the £7 increases are well ahead of inflation. In addition, special increases in the rates of qualified adult allowances were provided this year, ranging from 8% to 17%. The budget also provided for significant increases of between 22% and 23% in monthly child benefit payments.

Furthermore, as part of our commitment to align the tax and social welfare changes by 2001, all of the increases were paid four weeks earlier this year, from the beginning of May. We have already announced that the increases will take place at the start of the tax year from April next. In addition, I recently announced that this alignment of tax and social welfare changes will be maintained when the tax year is changed to coincide with the calendar year in January 2002. Social welfare weekly rates will be increased from January in that year – a full 23 weeks earlier than when we came into office. This progressively earlier payment of increases has to be taken into account in assessing the real level of increases which have been provided by this Government over its period of office.

The higher than expected inflation has, of course, had the effect of reducing the real value of this year's budget increases in social welfare payments. The budget for next year the Government will be taking full account of the increased level of inflation in setting increases for 2001.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

52 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on whether an anomaly exist in that the spouses of farmers who are joint owners of the family farm are excluded from qualification for contributory old age pension when they have made an active input thereto and are then excluded from the qualified dependant allowance as a result of the income deemed to arise from the joint ownership; and the steps he will take to remedy this anomaly. [25074/00]

The PRSI status of women engaged in farming was considered by the advisory committee on the role of women in agriculture which was established by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. My Department was represented on this committee. Its report, published in September, recommended that action be taken now in order to ensure that both farming spouses have the option of gaining individual access to PRSI entitlements. Given the complexity of the issues, the committee recommended that a working group with legal, financial and technical expertise be established to further consider the development of models which will afford farm women financial recognition for their input into farming. It is also recommended that the working group should comprise of representatives of relevant Departments, including my Department, the farming social partners and women farmers. The establishment of the technical group is primarily a matter for the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and I understand that this matter will be progressed in the near future.

At present the social insurance status of spouses engaged in a family business, including farms, varies with the circumstances of the case. Spouses who are engaged in a business partnership are treated as individual self-employed contributors. Both make social insurance contributions and will be eligible, in due course, to qualify individually and in their own right for social insurance pensions. If, however, a spouse participates in the business of a self-employed contributor, but is not a partner in the business, social insurance contributions are not due and the participating or assisting spouse is not covered for social insurance pensions or benefits.

With regard to the question of the payment of qualified adult allowances in cases where there is joint ownership of farms I am aware that difficulties have arisen. In such cases my Department assesses part of the income from the farm against the spouse and this may make them ineligible for a QAA. This is a very complex area which not only affects pension entitlements but also has implications for other schemes on which QAAs are paid. However, my Department is reviewing the basis on which these decisions are made and I expect that this work will be completed very shortly.
Question No. 53 taken with Question No. 42.
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