activation schemes, with very specific impacts on lone parents. The recent passage of the Childcare Support Bill through the Dáil, which will give effect to the Single Affordable Childcare Scheme (as announced in Budget 2017) is to be welcomed and it is hoped that this legislation (and the associated administrative and technical systems) will finally deliver a cohesive system of affordable, full-time quality childcare for low-income households throughout the country. The evidence provided by our delivery services speaks to the need for an appropriately designed and delivered in-work welfare system, which is more responsive to the needs and circumstances of its users. It also highlights the importance of robust engagement with employment and support services in helping people through change and uncertainty. Recommendations - Work and Welfare: Based on the evidence provided , CIB recommends the following in relation to the design of work and welfare systems:- Change eligibility for jobseeker’s payments to criteria based on hours worked rather than the number of days worked, to better support part-time and casual working patterns; Continue to phase out the age-differentiated, reduced rate of payment of Jobseeker’s Allowance for jobseekers who are under 26; Decrease the number of waiting days for entitlement to Illness Benefit from six to three days, reverting to the criteria prior to 2014; Adjust the income and working hours threshold for the Working Family Payment to better reflect the types of employment that are now being filled by low-income families; Extend the reach and coverage of activation and training schemes to include the ‘hidden unemployed’, and in particular, ensure that eligibility and supports for all employment activation schemes includes people with disabilities in line with the recommendations of the Make Work Pay Report; Develop a streamlined, over-arching system of subsidised childcare that provides affordable, quality, full-time childcare options for low income families; Examine the potential that exists to exploit the imminent roll-out of the PAYE modernisation programme in terms of the processing and administration of claims for benefits – specifically how the availability of real-time information relating to pay, tax, PRSI and USC deductions can be utilised by DEASP in designing a system that is more responsive to their clients needs; CIB also makes the following recommendations which are focused on the delivery of welfare supports to people who are seeking to access work or combine work with welfare:-
clearer guidelines for GPs in providing supporting information and more consistency amongst Deciding Officers, Medical Examiners and the Social Welfare Appeals Office in the cases of reviews and appeals. Low income self employed people The recent extension of treatment benefits and Invalidity Pension to the self-employed has been positively received by staff in information services who are supporting self-employed clients, but it remains that a lack of knowledge and understanding of the social insurance system continues to be a key issue for many low income self-employed people who approach information services seeking support in times of crisis such as illness, disability or business failure. This, in addition to the means test requirements for Jobseekers Allowance (and for Basic SWA), their exclusion from participation on activation schemes (if they do not qualify for jobseeker’s payments), the Working Family Payment and from short-term illness supports continues to be the focus of much of the concerns highlighted by information staff. In this regard, CIB looks forward to the conclusions of the DEASP working group on extending social insurance coverage to the self-employed. Pensions For many people, understanding how to plan for (and access) their pension will be a major decision in their lives and reports from CISs indicate that they are supporting a significant number of people to make informed decisions about their pensions - last year services addressed some 54,000 queries regarding pension entitlements (specifically Contributory, Non-Contributory, EU contributions and UK pensions). Feedback on pensions over the past number of years indicates that there is a lack of knowledge (and a good degree of confusion) amongst many soon-to-retire people around their entitlements. During 2017 in particular, staff within information services also expressed concerns about the difficulties caused by changed administrative procedures regarding accessing PRSI Contribution Statements, the absence of a pension forecasting facility from DEASP, confusion and concern about changing pension rules (with the anticipated move to the Total Contributions Approach in 2020) and the ongoing financial cost, to some, of the 2012 changes in eligibility criteria. There are continuing reports of how these complications are serving to disproportionately affect women who took time out of paid work to care in the home at various intervals in their working lives. Fuel Poverty The changes made with regard to the payment of the Fuel Allowance during 2017-2018 (that is, the introduction of the option to receive the payment in two lump sums and the extension of the payment
Provide funding for consumer education on sustainable credit, with a particular emphasis on low income groups; Reduce the three year supervision period for Debt Relief Notices from three years to one year; Review the concept of ‘excludable debts’ in Debt Relief Notices; Remove ‘preference’ from the eligibility criteria for DRNs, or only retain as a ground for a creditor objection similar to DSA and PIA or alternatively, remove from the preference test ‘priority’ payments such as housing, utilities etc.; With regard to Reasonable Living Expenses, change the wording of the DRN legislation - Section 65(2)(c) and Section (2)(e) - to “may” as opposed to “shall”; Provide broader access to insolvency solutions by funding a Public Personal Insolvency Service and enhance MABS to include PIP services on a means-tested basis.