I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 129 together.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is available to employees and self-employed people who have lost their employment and the income from that employment due to the pandemic, and who satisfy the other qualifying conditions of the scheme.
As restrictions lift and businesses re-open, employers are contacting their employees to return to work. As would be expected, the vast majority of employees do return and close their PUP claims.
In response to reports from some employers of cases where employees were refusing to return to work, my Department created an employer support line in March 2020. This facility allowed employers to contact the Department if they were experiencing problems in rehiring staff who were in receipt of the PUP.
The staff resources assigned to administering this facility usually comprise one full time equivalent post. This can be augmented depending on the number of reports received and other requirements on the staff members involved.
As of the 7th of May 2021, some 1,200 employers have contacted the Department through the employer support line, resulting in reviews of 3,200 employee PUP claims. After investigation, approximately 450 of these PUP claims were stopped; a tiny percentage of the hundreds of thousands of customers who have availed of PUP.
Last year the number of people in receipt of the PUP fell from a peak of over 600,000 to just over 200,000 as the economy reopened. This clearly shows that the vast majority of people want to return to work as soon as their sector reopens and their job returns.
My Department has issued payments to a value of over €7.5 Billion under the Pandemic Unemployment Payment to date with over 850,000 people receiving support. The scale of this support is unprecedented in the history of the State.
I can assure the Deputies that as the economy reopens the Department of Social Protection and its staff will continue to support citizens as we have done at all stages throughout the pandemic.
