The COVID 19 pandemic unemployment payment was introduced as an emergency measure to meet the surge in unemployment which resulted from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. To be eligible for the pandemic unemployment payment a person must have been in employment immediately prior to the 13th March and lost their income from employment due to the onset of the pandemic. Self-employed people must have suffered a collapse in their trading income to the extent that they are available to take up other full-time work.
Changes were announced to the structure of the pandemic unemployment payment which means that it continues to be a strong support but is also fair and targeted. Payment is now linked to prior earnings. Where an employee's gross weekly earnings were €200 or higher there is no change to their rate of payment. If their gross weekly earnings were under €200 the rate of the pandemic unemployment payment was adjusted to €203. Where a person is self-employed their gross average weekly income for 2018, the last tax year for which verifiable data on self-employed income is available, is used to calculate the rate of the pandemic unemployment payment. Any person who feels that the assessment of their earnings, based on returns already submitted to Revenue, is inaccurate can ask for a review of their case with further details available on www.gov.ie. Combining employee and self-employed income could potentially reduce average weekly earnings in the case of employee earnings, particularly where an employee has relatively small amounts of self-employment income, as the respective earnings would then be assessed over a full year. The nature of self-employment is such that it is not possible, for Revenue and PRSI purposes, to attribute self-employment income to any particular week, and earnings are assessed on a full-year basis.
Where an individual’s rate is reduced to the flat rate €203 per week and their family circumstances are that they have adult or child dependents, it may be more financially beneficial to apply for a jobseekers payment. The jobseeker’s benefit and jobseeker’s benefit for the self-employed schemes provide a social insurance contribution-based support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. If a person does not meet the qualifying conditions of the scheme they may be eligible to apply for the means tested jobseeker’s allowance scheme. The maximum weekly rate of payment for these schemes is €203 and increases may also be paid for any qualifying adults and children.
The Enterprise Support Grant has recently been extended and will be made available to small business owners who transition from the pandemic unemployment payment to re-open their business. The grant, of up to €1,000, will be payable to self-employed micro enterprises which employ fewer than 10 people, have an annual turnover of less than €1 million and are not eligible for support from the COVID 19 Business Restart Grant or other similar business reopening grants. The Department is developing the systems to put it into effect and will communicate how to access the grant in the coming weeks.
I trust that this clarifies the matter.
