Government should restore PUP cuts amid new Covid lockdown: Ictu's King

The union's general secretary Patricia King said a pledge by Government not to cut the PUP again would help rally support for the new restrictions

Ictu general secretary Patricia King

As a way of building support for the new full level 5 restrictions and to save lives, the Government should pledge not to cut the pandemic unemployment payments for more than 250,000 people and to restore previous cuts, the head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Patricia King has said.

The Ictu general secretary said the new restrictions and the full closure of hospitality and non-essential retail would mean the number of people relying on the PUP scheme would "inevitably rise".

Ms King said it was unfair for the hundreds of thousands of people who were going into and then emerging from repetitive lockdowns and who required PUP scheme payments to make ends meet.   

She said a pledge by Government not to cut the PUP again would help rally support for the new restrictions that are aimed at controlling anticipated further spikes in Covid-19 cases and help save lives.                           

The Government has "to retain the confidence of people to continue to live within these fairly strict public health rules and one way to do that is to try and retain people's income", she said, adding that "at the very least" there should be a review of previous cuts. 

Government figures showed there were 277,700 drawing on the PUP scheme over Christmas, down from 306,220 people in the previous week, as more businesses reopened following November's lockdown. 

However, many economists believe it inevitable that the number of people on the PUP will start rising again after Christmas, as the latest restrictions bite and the one-off seasonal spending boom abates for many struggling businesses.   

Arrangements are in place to process new applications made by people for the #COVID19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment over the Christmas period.

Apply online via https://t.co/M2y3fHlEv2 to ensure payment is made as quickly as possible.

More info here: https://t.co/XCrkxIVA0g pic.twitter.com/roIWhXwAK5

— Department of Social Protection (@welfare_ie) December 29, 2020

 

Before Christmas, there were more than 25,520 people in Cork relying on the PUP scheme, almost 11,200 people in Kerry, almost 10,400 in Limerick, and 6,090 in Waterford, as well as over 95,866 people in Dublin on the PUP scheme. 

People earning over €400 a week receive a PUP payment of €350 and people earning €300 to €399 get €300. Weekly earnings of up to €300 get €250 a week under PUP, while earning less than €200 means a payment of €203 a week, the benchmark unemployment rate.  

Ms King said Ictu had for long taken the view that the PUP payments ought not to have been reduced and it continued to argue the case. 

"To be fair, the Government has pumped a fair amount of money into businesses to ensure they can survive but these are human beings going in and out of the layers and tiers of the pandemic," she said.