Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 April 2019
40. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will commission a review to ascertain the number of workers per year affected by the six-day waiting period while sick from work; and the estimated cost of restoring the waiting period to three days. [15658/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraIllness benefit is a short term payment made to insured people who are unable to work due to illness. The payment is funded by the social insurance fund (SIF) through the payment of PRSI contributions by workers and employers and, in the event of a shortfall between contributions received and benefits paid, the Exchequer. The fund is central to Ireland’s system of social protection and the Government needs to ensure that it can provide adequate and sustainable social insurance pensions and benefits for a growing and ageing population.
Current arrangements provide that payment of illness benefit begins from the seventh day of the illness. No payment is made for the first six days, known as "waiting days”. Waiting days have been a long standing feature of the social insurance system and are a feature of similar social security schemes in many other countries.
Many employers pay sick pay during this period, however where an employee does not have an occupational sick pay scheme they may be able to avail of the supplementary welfare scheme, subject to normal eligibility requirements.
When the current waiting day arrangements were introduced, it was projected that the full-year annual savings would amount to €22 million per year. No specific research has been commissioned or is currently planned by the Department to establish the cost of reversing this measure. In addition, given the cost implications, any change to the current arrangements would have to be considered within the annual budgetary context.
