Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 February 2017
177. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Social Protection if a person making a claim for jobseeker's benefit in 2017 who is currently paying a class-A contribution, but who has 52 paid class-S contributions only in 2015, the relevant year for assessment, has an entitlement to jobseeker's benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5120/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe jobseeker's benefit scheme provides income support for people who lose work and who have the required number of qualifying social insurance contributions. The 2017 Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure on jobseeker’s benefit of €343 million.
The PRSI contribution classes that count towards qualifying for jobseekers benefit are PRSI Class A, H and P. Individuals who are self-employed cannot typically access jobseeker’s benefit as PRSI Class S contributions do not qualify a person for jobseeker’s benefit. To qualify for jobseeker's benefit a person must satisfy the conditionality for the scheme including the contribution condition. They must have at least 104 weeks' qualifying PRSI contributions paid since they first started work and 39 weeks' qualifying PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant tax year, or 26 weeks' qualifying PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and 26 weeks' qualifying PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year. The relevant tax year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which your claim is made. So, for claims made in 2017, the relevant tax year is 2015.
However, a self-employed person who has sufficient social insurance contributions as an employee could qualify for jobseeker’s benefit provided they either give up their self-employment or if their self-employment is considered to be subsidiary employment.
To be considered as subsidiary employment the relevant employment should be in addition to the jobseeker’s usual employment. Also, either the amount of earnings or profit from the occupation cannot exceed €12.70 per day, or the jobseeker must have a minimum of 117 PRSI contributions, paid immediately preceding the date of the claim or in respect of the last 3 complete contribution years. However, the individual must satisfy all conditions of the jobseeker’s benefit scheme, including being available for and genuinely seeking full-time employment. If the jobseeker does not have the relevant number of qualifying contributions they may be eligible for jobseeker’s allowance or if engaged in farming they may qualify for farm assist.
Any decision to change the qualifying PRSI classes for jobseeker's benefit would be a matter for Government to consider in a budgetary context.
