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Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment
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11. Part 2 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following new Chapter after Chapter 12A:
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“Chapter 12B
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Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment
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Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment
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68L. (1) Subject to this Act, a person shall be entitled to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment in respect of any week where—
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(a) the person has attained the age of 18 years and has not attained pensionable age,
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(b) on or after 13 March 2020, the person was—
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(i) an employed contributor in the week immediately before he or she ceased to earn an income from the employment concerned and lost his or her employment as a direct consequence of Covid-19 (including the adverse effects of Covid-19 on the business of his or her employer and the adverse effects of measures required to be taken by his or her employer in order to comply with, or as a consequence of, Government policy to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread of infection of Covid-19), or
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(ii) in insurable self-employment in the week immediately before the date on which he or she can demonstrate to the Minister that the reckonable income or reckonable emoluments ceased, or reduced, as a direct consequence of Covid-19 (including the adverse effects of Covid-19 on such self-employment and the adverse effects of measures required to be taken by him or her in order to comply with, or as a consequence of, Government policy to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread of infection of Covid-19), to the extent that he or she would be available to take up full-time employment,
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(c) the person is not—
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(i) an employed contributor whose employer is, or was, in receipt of the temporary wage subsidy, or
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(ii) an employed contributor referred to in section 38C(1)(f) whose employer was, before the coming into operation of Part 7 of the Act of 2020, in receipt of a subsidy referred to in section 38C(1)(f),
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(d) the person is not engaged in insurable employment,
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(e) the person satisfies the contribution conditions in section 68M,
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(f) he or she is capable of work,
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(g) he or she is genuinely seeking, but is unable to obtain, employment suitable for him or her having regard to his or her age, physique, education, normal occupation, place of residence and family circumstances, and
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(h) the person was not in receipt of the payment known as the pandemic unemployment payment paid under section 202 in respect of that week.
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(2) Entitlement to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment shall, having regard to the date referred to in subsection (1), take effect from the date on which the claimant was last in employment or self-employment referred to in subsection (1)(b).
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(3) The conditions specified in subsection (1)(b)(i) will not be satisfied where a claimant—
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(a) has lost the employment concerned through his or her own misconduct or has voluntarily left his or her employment,
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(b) refuses an offer to return to the employment concerned,
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(c) has refused an offer of suitable employment,
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(d) has failed or neglected to avail himself or herself of any reasonable opportunity of obtaining suitable employment, or
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(e) has failed or neglected to avail himself or herself of any offer of support from, or proposed by, the Minister to enable himself or herself to improve his or her prospects of obtaining employment.
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(4) Subject to this Act, a person who was, immediately before the coming into operation of section 11 of the Social Welfare (Covid-19)(Amendment) Act 2020, in receipt of the payment known as the pandemic unemployment payment paid under section 202, shall, subject to this Chapter, be paid the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment.
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(5) An employer or a self-employed contributor shall provide the Minister with such prescribed information for the purposes of determining entitlement to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment.
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Contribution conditions
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68M. The contribution conditions for the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment are that—
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(a) in the case of a person referred to in section 68L(1)(b)(i), he or she has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than one contribution week in the 4 weeks immediately before claiming the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment, or
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(b) in the case of a person referred to in section 68L(1)(b)(ii), he or she is a self-employed contributor.
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Duration of Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment
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68N. (1) The Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment shall cease on a day as may be prescribed by the Minister under subsection (2).
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(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and having regard to the matters specified in subsection (3) make regulations—
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(a) specifying a date on or after which an application for the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment shall not be made, and
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(b) specifying a date on which the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payments shall cease to be made.
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(3) When making regulations under this section the Minister shall have regard to the following:
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(a) the policies and objectives of the Government to mitigate the economic effects of the spread of the disease known as Covid-19 through the supports available to both individuals and businesses;
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(b) the range of income support and in-work supports provided by the Government to protect and support the welfare of members of the public, including those affected by the adverse economic effects of the spread of the disease known as Covid-19;
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(c) the need to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Social Insurance Fund;
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(d) the need to ensure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of resources.
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Rate of payment
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68O. (1) The weekly rates of the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment shall be the amounts corresponding to the amounts set out in Part 6 of Schedule 2 or such weekly rates as may be prescribed in regulations under this section.
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(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—
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(a) the manner in which the average reckonable weekly income of a claimant is calculated shall be prescribed in regulations under this section, and
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(b) the Minister may make regulations providing for the manner in which the average reckonable weekly income of a claimant shall be calculated.
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(3) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, by regulation increase or decrease the weekly rates referred to in subsection (1) and may provide that different rates of payment shall be payable in line with the provision of any such regulations.
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(4) When making regulations under this section the Minister shall have regard to the following:
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(a) the policies and objectives of the Government to mitigate the adverse economic effects of the spread of the disease known as Covid-19 through the supports available to both individuals and businesses;
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(b) the need to ensure that the rates of payment complement the range of income supports, activation measures, in-work and business supports provided by the Government to assist the recovery and sustainability of employment;
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(c) the need to ensure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of resources.
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Regulations for purposes of Chapter
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68P. (1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and having regard to the matters specified in subsection (2), make regulations for the purposes of giving full effect to this Chapter and such regulations may, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, provide for all or any of the foregoing—
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(a) the matters referred to as prescribed in this Chapter,
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(b) the manner in which entitlement to an increase in respect of a qualified adult paid with a benefit or assistance under this Act shall be treated where the qualified adult concerned has an entitlement in his or her own right to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment,
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(c) the manner in which entitlement to an increase in respect of a qualified child paid with a benefit or assistance under this Act shall be treated where the qualified child concerned has an entitlement in his or her own right to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment,
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(d) additional requirements in relation to the activation of persons in receipt of the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment as the Minister may consider appropriate, and
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(e) such additional, incidental, consequential or supplementary matters as the Minister considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of giving effect to the relevant provisions.
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(2) When making regulations under this section, the Minister shall have regard to the following:
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(a) the potential impact of Covid-19 on the entitlements of employed contributors and self-employed contributors;
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(b) the policies and objectives of the Government to protect the health and welfare of members of the public;
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(c) the policies and objectives of the Government to mitigate the economic effects of Covid-19;
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(d) the need to ensure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of resources.”.
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