Taxi driver's PUP case shows Department 'making up rules as they go along'

A taxi driver who had been in receipt of the controversial Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and closed his claim voluntarily was informed a month later that his payment had been stopped as social welfare inspectors had “observed” him operating his taxi.

The man in question, who is based in Dublin, had first claimed the PUP one week after it was first introduced on March 16 at a lower rate of €203 per week, in line with standard jobseeker’s benefit.

He ceased his own claim three weeks later on April 13 after perceiving via a change in the qualifying criteria that he was no longer eligible for the payment because his self-employed business had not ceased trading completely.

On May 7, however, he received a letter from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP), the State department with responsibility for administering the PUP, stating that, per its records, he was “currently in receipt of the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment”.

“On April 5 you were observed by social welfare inspectors operating as a taxi for hire in Dublin city centre or County,” the letter read, adding “it would now appear you currently have an income from employment and are not entitled to be receiving a Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment and this payment has now been discontinued”.

 

However, it would appear that such criteria, should the man have still been in receipt of the payment, would not have applied to him regardless given he, much like the majority of taxi drivers in Ireland, is self-employed.

Self-employed people who pay themselves as PAYE workers are entitled to claim the alternate Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), operated as an employer support by the Revenue Commissioners.

The remainder in self-employment are supposed to apply for the PUP. However the criteria for same have altered on a number of occasions.

At present, the criteria for eligibility for self-employed persons are that their trading income has ceased due to Covid-19, or it has “collapsed to the extent that you are available to take up other full-time employment if it was offered”. “You may… receive a payment for so long as you are available to take up other work,” the online guidance reads.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection was asked what the protocols are for checking whether or not claimants are receiving income from other sources given inspectors are known to be monitoring Ireland’s ports of entry together with the case of the taxi driver in question. The department was further asked how many claims have been shut off in the same manner. 

"The Department deploys a variety of mechanisms and techniques to detect and identify instances of suspected fraud and non-compliance," a spokesperson said in response, adding that those checks happen both pre and post the benefit being granted.

"In practice, a self-employed person can engage in once-off or sporadic emergency work and still retain eligibility for the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment," it added.

Law student Roman Shortall said that the details of the taxi driver’s claim show that DEASP “are making up the rules as they go along”.

“The key point is that a week after the man had applied they had people out hunting for fraudulent claims,” he said. Mr Shortall himself recently complained to the DEASP after being asked for his personal details at Dublin Airport by representatives from the department including gardaí on secondment, an interaction which subsequently saw his wife’s child benefit payment stopped.

“Another issue is how the department came upon the man’s data in the first place,” he said. “Are they actively taking all taxi numbers and then matching them with the NTA (National Transport Authority) and trying to get a match with their PPS number?” he queried.

The PUP has been beset by controversy over the past two weeks after it emerged that those in receipt of the payment were no longer permitted to leave the country and must be “actively seeking work”, despite no legislation having been passed at the time to that effect.