Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020
523. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason 2018 PAYE and self-employed income cannot be combined for the purpose of calculating the pandemic unemployment rate of a person; the reason it is the case for 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25135/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Pandemic Unemployment Payment was introduced as an emergency measure to provide an income support to those who had lost their employment as a result of Covid. In order to ensure that the scheme was simple and accessible for the unprecedented number of applicants, a flat payment rate was introduced. This rate was the equivalent of the rate for a two-person household.
From 26 June 2020, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment moved to 2 rates of payment, and a 3 rate structure is in place since 17 September. These changes more closely link the rate of payment to the amount that individuals previously earned and make the scheme more targeted and fair. In determining the rate payable, the objective was to ensure that recent earnings were taken into account.
For employees, the greater of their gross weekly earnings in either 2019 or January to February 2020 was used to determine the rate of Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
For self-employed people a different approach was required, based on their average weekly income for 2018 or 2019.
In order to address situations where individuals had only moved from employment into self-employment or vice versa during 2019, earnings from both sources can be aggregated. This is to ensure that these individuals are not disadvantaged by the fact that a full year’s earnings from either source is not available. Of the 108,725 cases which were rerated based on their 2019 earnings, only 652 cases qualified for a rate of either €250 or €300 based on an aggregation of their income as outlined above. It is not proposed to extend the aggregation of income to the 2018 year as this potentially distorts the objective of linking the rate of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment to recent earnings.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
