NEW WELFARE LEGISLATION PROVIDES SOCIAL PROTECTION BENEFITS TO SELF EMPLOYED AND THEIR PARTNERS

Posted on June 5, 2014 3:47 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Speaking on the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014

The Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014 will give effect to a number of important social welfare and pensions reforms.

This Bill amends the Social Welfare Consolidation Act of 2005, this is being done to provide for the transposition of certain aspects of EU Directive 41 of 2010 (2010/41/EU) dealing with the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and ensuring that the spouse or civil partner of a self-employed worker can benefit from social protection in accordance with national law. This is a very important reform and essentially means that a group of people who had previously been excluded from contributory State pensions will now be able to qualify over time for pension cover in their own right. This will ensure equality of access to social insurance cover for the self-employed and assisting spouses and civil partners as required under EU law. In the case of women, they will also be able to qualify over time for Maternity Benefit.

I warmly welcome this legislative development. I am very pleased that it is going ahead and Minister Burton deserves a lot of credit for ensuring it is being legislated for.

Amendments to the existing legislation are also being made in order to strengthen the residence requirements relating to entitlement to social assistance payments and child benefit, to strengthen control of social welfare expenditure by extending the powers to recover social welfare overpayments, and to make a number of other changes to the social welfare code arising from policy, administrative and operational matters.

In terms of the EU Directive, the Bill will extend social insurance cover to spouses and civil partners of a self-employed contributor in cases where that spouse/civil partner is participating in that person's business and earning more than €5,000 a year. This means that the spouse or civil partner will, under the social insurance system, be able to establish entitlement to Maternity Benefit, Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's Contributory Pension and State Pension Contributory in their own right.

In terms of amending and strengthening the residence requirements relating to entitlement to means-assessed social welfare payments and to Child Benefit, under the amended legislation, not only must a person be habitually resident at the date of application for the relevant social welfare payment, a person must be habitually resident in the State, not just at the date of the application but also throughout the period that payment is being claimed in order to remain entitled to it. This will mean that the person is residing in Ireland and has a proven close link to the State. This is being done to prevent any possibility that individuals no longer resident in Ireland can continue to claim social welfare payments after they have left the country. In my view, the vast majority of people are honest, no matter where they come from, and this sort of welfare fraud is something that has not happened on a widespread basis, but I believe it is best to ensure that it can never happen. The social protection budget needs to be protected as best as possible in order to serve those who need it the most and I think this is a reasonable.

Separately, the Bill will ensure that, in general, once a family qualifies for Family Income Supplement, payment of the supplement will continue for 52 weeks regardless of a change in circumstances, such as an increase in weekly earnings. Family Income Supplement is crucially important to working families, and this measure is about ensuring that families in receipt of the supplement have security and peace of mind about the length of their payment. It is a weekly tax-free top-up payment for workers on low pay with children. At present, more than 44,000 working families with more than 98,000 children benefit from the scheme. The Department's spend on FIS will increase to more than €280 million this year - a 25% increase since 2012.

The Bill also extends the powers of the Department of Social Protection to recover social welfare overpayments. The vast majority people in receipt of payments receive only the payment to which they are entitled. But there are cases where overpayments arise through error, and in a small number of cases through fraud, and it is important that these monies are recovered so that the social welfare budget is managed appropriately and the money is there for those who need it.