Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 March 2024
781. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Social Protection if changes are going to be made to jobseekers allowance and X and O system to allow people working as care assistants/home help assistants to claim assistance (details supplied). [13081/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government is conscious of the recruitment and retention challenges in the home and community care sector and is supportive of properly informed measures to increase capacity in the sector. Towards this end it established a Strategic Workforce Advisory Group in 2022 specifically to look at the labour force challenges facing providers of home-care services.
Following a consultation process, this Group classified, and priority-ranked the challenges faced in the sector and brought forward a number of recommendations for reform. Although the issue of social welfare thresholds was raised, it was ranked behind issues related to other factors, including for example, the rate of payment paid to care workers, unpredictable working hours and the use of temporary contracts within the sector.
The Department supports part-time working through a number of schemes including casual and part-time work arrangements for people on jobseeker payments. In addition, the working family payment supports families on low incomes and there are tapered income disregards across a number of schemes to support the take up of employment including the one-parent family scheme and the disability allowance scheme, neither of which are hours constrained.
The current legislative and operational framework for jobseekers is based on a days worked rather than an hours worked threshold. Under the current system a person can work three days and receive a partial jobseeker payment. It is not possible, under the current system, to apply preferential rules to workers based on their occupation or sector of employment.
In line with the commitment in Pathways to Work, the national employment strategy, work is continuing in relation to the development of the possible features of a Working Age Payment, which will include examining the structure of the existing Jobseeker's Allowance scheme. A Working Age Payment would utilise Revenue Commissioner real time earnings data to adjust payment levels in line with a person’s weekly earnings. In this way it would guarantee a basic income floor and ensure that in all cases a person’s income increases when they work. This would represent a significant change to Jobseeker's Allowance and would address issues relating to the use of days or hours worked.
I trust that clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
