€87m to extend job seekers’ benefit to self-employed

The cost of extending jobseekers’ benefit to the self -employed next year would be in the region of €87m.

Representatives from the Department of Social Protection said a KPMG report on the Social Insurance Fund found the cost of extending jobseekers’ benefit in 2013 to the self-employed would be in this range, assuming unemployment rates for self-employed people were the same as the for rest of the population.

The Social Protection Committee was told self-employed people who pay Class S PRSI are entitled to widow’s pension, guardian’s payment, State pension, maternity benefit, adoptive benefit and bereavement grant. If their income is below a certain level, they are entitled to jobseekers’ allowance based on a means test of earnings from the last 12 months.