4. Análisis e interpretación de datos
4.5. Riesgos al perforar pozos tipo Slim Hole
People of Working Age – Corporate and Policy Overview
Programme Overview
Objective: To provide people of working age with income supports and/or opportunities to enable them to reach their full economic and social potential.
High-level strategy: To provide income support and other services to people of working age facilitating them to engage in employment, training, education or development opportunities.
Key Outcome: To raise employment participation levels thereby reducing long- term dependence on social welfare payments.
High-level indicators:
Consistent poverty rates for people of working age.
Social Welfare dependency rates among working age
population.
Employment participation rates.
Integrated service delivery.
Participation rates in activation measures
(employment, training or development opportunities).
Meeting the Governments agreed EU employment targets.
Table 7.1: People of Working Age - Inputs, 2010 and 2011 2010 Provisional Outturn € million 2011 REV Estimate € million % change in 2011 on 2010 outturn
Programme Expenditure - Current 11,617.9 10,907.6 -6.1%
Programme Administration
- Pay 163.1 162.8 -0.2%
- Non-pay 226.7 221.0 -2.5%
Gross programme expenditure 12,007.7 11,291.4 -6.0%
Number of staff employed on programme (whole time equivalents) as at end of year.
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Table 7.2 : Programme Expenditure by Scheme, 2010 and 2011
Scheme Estimate 2010 €m Spend 2010 €m Estimate 2011 €m
Jobseeker‟s Allowance 2,833.8 2,807.7 2,644.6
One Parent Family Payment 1,127.9 1,110.1 1,111.7
Disability Allowance 1,091.7 1,109.4 1,066.2
Jobseeker's Benefit 1,545.8 1,286.6 1,027.1
Illness Benefit 884.4 943.2 854.7
Supplementary Welfare Allowances 864.6 873.5 802.5
Invalidity Pension 685.6 639.9 628.2
Carer's Allowance 504.9 504.8 499.0
FÁS Employment and Integration Programmes - 447.0 433.5
Redundancy and Insolvency Payments 340.0 493.3 402.0
Widow/er‟s/Surviving Civil Partner‟s Contributory Pension -
aged under 6625 388.7 393.2 384.0
Employment Support Services 263.8 277.7 335.4
Maternity Benefit 351.9 323.9 303.5
Fuel Allowance 128.4 134.7 135.8
Respite Care Grant 128.7 128.1 131.2
Farm Assist 111.4 110.9 122.6
Occupational Injuries Benefits 109.8 104.7 105.4
Domiciliary Care Allowance 96.0 95.7 104.2
Deserted Wife's Benefit 93.8 93.4 88.7
Household Benefits 86.2 80.9 84.0
Pre-Retirement Allowance 79.0 77.9 62.4
Community Services Programme - 45.1 47.4
Rural Social Scheme - 46.0 46.1
Carer's Benefit 31.3 26.3 28.2
Widow/er‟s/Surviving Civil Partner‟s (Non Contributory)
Pension and Guardians Payment (Non Contributory) 23.6 23.9 25.3
Treatment Benefits 34.0 51.5 23.4
Free Travel 21.4 20.6 21.4
Blind Pension 15.7 16.0 15.4
Guardian Payment 10.5 11.5 10.7
Deserted Wife‟s Allowance 5.1 5.0 4.5
Miscellaneous Services 1.0 1.2 1.4
Adoptive Benefit 1.3 0.9 0.9
Health and Safety Benefit 0.7 0.6 0.7
Less :
Qualified Child Increases payable to
People of Working Age 26 (623.9) (664.6) (664.6)
Programme Expenditure 11,237.0 11,617.9 10,907.6
25 Expenditure on Widow/er‟s/Surviving Civil Partner‟s Contributory Pension where a recipient is aged over 66 is shown under Objective 3 – Retired and Older People.
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Table 7.3: People of Working Age - Consistent Poverty, 2006-2009
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009
Consistent poverty % 5.6 4.7 3.9 4.9
Source: CSO, Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), 2009
Table 7.4: Labour Force Participation, Employment and Unemployment Rates, Quarter 4 each year, 2007-2010
Year Participation rate %27 Employment rate %28 Unemployment rate %
2007 63.8 68.9 4.5
2008 62.9 66.0 7.6
2009 61.2 61.1 12.4
2010 60.4 59.4 14.1
Source: CSO, Quarterly National Household Survey - Quarter 4, 2010
Chart 7.5: Social Welfare Recipients as a Percentage of Working Age Population
27The Participation Rate is the number of persons in the labour force expressed as a percentage of the total population aged 15 or over. 28The Employment Rate is the number of employed aged 15 to 64 expressed as a percentage of the total population aged 15 to 64
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Table 7.6: Weekly Rate of Payment – Jobseeker’s Allowance, Jobseeker’s Benefit, One-Parent Family Payment, Disability Allowance etc.
Year Rate € Change % Change Inflation %
Rate 2005 148.80 14.00 10.4 2.5 2006 165.80 17.00 11.4 4.0 2007 185.80 20.00 12.1 4.9 2008 197.80 12.00 6.5 4.1 2009 204.30 6.50 3.3 -3.9 2010 196.00 -8.30 -4.1 -1.1 2011 188.00 -8.00 -4.1 2.5 2004-2011 € 53.20 2004-2011 % 39.5% 13.4%
Working Age – Overview
1. The Working Age Programme accounts for over 56% of all DSP expenditure. The economic downturn has served to significantly increase pressure on this programme principally, but not exclusively, through higher unemployment levels.
2. The reform of policy and delivery aspects of working age schemes is the subject of a major transformation and change agenda which will be rolled out over the coming years. This chapter includes information in relation to (i) recently published policy reports and reviews that will inform the reform of this element of the social welfare system (ii) new activation measures and scheme reforms being currently introduced as part of the transformation agenda (iii) the transformation and change agenda itself including the introduction of the National Employment and Entitlements Service, and (iv) additional contextual elements. Chapter 8 details Working Age schemes on a sub-programme basis, including options for change.
EU IMF Programme of Financial Support
3. The Memorandum of Understanding with the EU/ECB/IMF, includes a specific commitment that DSP will build on its recent studies on working age payments, child income support and Disability Allowance with a view to producing a comprehensive programme of reforms that can help better targeting social support to those on lower incomes, and ensure that work pays for welfare recipients.
A progress report will be made by end-December 2011 and a programme of reforms will be submitted to Government at the end of the first quarter of 2012.
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The main recommendations of the Report on the desirability and feasibility of
introducing a single social assistance payment for people of working age;
The outcome of the Disability Allowance Value for Money Review;
The role of the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare;
Developments in Activation, Profiling and Case Management;
The establishment of the National Employment and Entitlements Service (NEES);
and
The Partial Capacity Benefit Scheme which will be introduced later this year.
The main issues relating to the VFM report on Child Income Support are related and are dealt with in the Chapter 6.
Introducing a single social assistance payment for people of working age
5. The report of the review on the desirability and feasibility of introducing a single social assistance payment for people of working age examines the current system of social assistance payments against the background of the broader policy rationale for a single payment, which is based on the policy that people are given or directed to the supports or services that they need in order to return to or take up work or other training or educational opportunities, matched by a requirement that they avail of that support. This approach builds on the NESC report: The Developmental Welfare State. For the purposes of illustration and as a possible approach to reform, a prototype of a single payment, based on the existing rules applying to Jobseeker‟s Allowance, was explored in the report. Such a prototype would be capable of producing significant expenditure reductions (some of which would have to be offset by the provision of alternate services).
6. Key Findings in the Single Working Age Payment Report
The current system has its own set of rules and leads to complexity. Several benefits
are not designed to encourage people to work to fulfil the maximum of their potential.
Despite a period of economic growth, the numbers in receipt of social assistance
payments has remained static over the past number of years - although the composition has changed with increases in the numbers in receipt of illness and lone parent payments.
People get categorised according to the payment they receive and there is less focus
on work related activities resulting in people being left on payments for long periods of time – people are seen as being outside the workforce rather than as unemployed members of it.
Trends in the social welfare population of working age indicate poor outcomes for
this group.
Other EU/OECD countries have embarked on reforming their systems – characterised
by a shift from passive income support to a system of individualised support. In this respect Ireland lags behind.
The report identifies a possible prototype for a single payment and for the purposes of
illustration uses the current rules applying to Jobseeker‟s Allowance.
A key part of this overall approach would be to replace the existing social assistance
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Key aspects need to be addressed in order to progress to the next stage in moving towards the introduction of a single social assistance payment. These include policy, technical, legislative, operational and financial aspects.
Next Steps
7. It is envisaged that the immediate work in this area will revolve around, in the first instance,
a consultation process with stakeholders which took place on 11 July 2011 which also
made a link with the DA VFM Review and
the development of a roadmap/s in order to move towards a single payment.
A central part of the roadmap will involve identifying issues – operational, ICT and policy – that may hinder progressing towards the introduction of a single payment. Setting out a plan
to deal with any such barriers will be a central part of the roadmap/s.
In-Work Support / Incentives
8. The role of in-work support in the context of a single payment for people of working age is a key aspect that will require further consideration. The „Integrated CIS feasibility study‟ will assess the feasibility of a FIS replacement payment to address child poverty and also the second objective of FIS of providing a measure of in-work financial support for low income families with children. By its nature the focus of that study is from a child income support perspective and in-work support and incentives for parents that might lose out will also be examined. The issue of extending in-work supports to all working age payments to complement the new disregards will involve considerably more work on conceptualisation and design.
Key Issues
9. Following the consultation process a number of key issues identified in the feasibility study need to be addressed. In particular, policy holders of these issues need to advance these in recognition of the progression to a single working age social assistance payment. These issues are set out below. This is intended to highlight key issues but is not an exhaustive list. Policy Aspects
10. In the context of moving to the design of a single payment a number of key policy issues need to be resolved. As identified in Chapter 3 of the report these include:
• The differences in the treatment of income from employment and self-employment in respect of both the claimant and his/her spouse;
• The differences in treatment of other elements of the means test in respect of both the claimant and his/her spouse;
• Access to the Household Benefit Package and Free Travel;
• The interaction of a single payment with FIS and with Community Employment; • The interaction of a single payment with allowances such as Back to Work and Back
to Education;
• The payment of half rate social welfare payment(s) with a single payment; • The application of „limitation of entitlement‟;
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• €190,500 from the sale of a person‟s principal residence currently available to DA and Blind Pension recipients – should the disregard be extended to all recipients of a single working age payment?;
• The formula for assessing capital is more generous in the case of DA - should it be aligned to other schemes or should the higher disregard apply to a single working age payment?;
• DA is payable from age 16 whereas a working age payment should be for those between 18 and 66 – the position of 16 -18 year olds must therefore be addressed. • There is no lower age limit for OFP – the position of single parents under 18 years of
age must also be addressed;
• Implications arising from CIS and Disability Allowance reviews; • Implications arising from reform of Lone Parent provisions; and • Implications arising from activation measures.
Operational and ICT Aspects
11. Rationalisation of the current payment rate structure applying to existing payments to a single payment should not of itself require development work as in principle the single payment could be supported within the current payment structure. However, if the single payment applies to new claimants only, as is envisaged in the report, there will be implications for maintaining two systems into the future
12. It is the intention that all schemes currently administered and paid through ISTS will migrate to the BOMi platform over the coming years. The introduction of a single working age payment scheme on the BOMi would provide the potential for moving at least 40% of the current ISTS claims (ISTS is the IT system currently used), which are assistance based, onto this new scheme over time.
13. An exploratory project will be needed to identify the parameters of the new scheme. The outcome of this exploratory work would form the requirements for a project to develop the required functionality on the Business Objects Model implementation (BOMi) system. The implications of moving the assistance based schemes (e.g. JA) onto the BOMi while leaving the equivalent insurance based scheme (eg JB) on ISTS would need to be addressed as part of this exploratory project.
14. The administration of the payment, including the structure required to implement all aspects of case management.
15. Convergence/Harmonisation: Take the necessary action to ensure that any changes to the underlying payments are in keeping with a single working age payment. This should include the non introduction of changes that increases the divergence between existing payments but should include progressive changes to achieve greater convergence.
Disability Allowance Value for Money Review
16. The review of the Disability Allowance (DA) scheme, published in November 2010, was undertaken against a background of a very serious deterioration in the public finances. The decision to reduce the weekly rate of payment of DA, along with all other welfare payments
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for people of working age, in Budgets 2010 and 2011, starkly underlines these changed circumstances. In that context, concerns about the steady rise in the numbers availing of the scheme are inevitably exacerbated and there are legitimate concerns that the scheme should not, in the very difficult prevailing labour market circumstances, be viewed in any way as offering an alternative to unemployment payments.
17. The review explores the range of factors which have contributed to the increase in the scheme claimload from some 36,000 when the DA payment was introduced in 1996 to almost 100,000 by the end of 2009. Scheme numbers would have increased in any event in line with population growth. Other factors, including the easing of the means test, the extension of entitlement to those in full-time residential care, greater medicalisation of certain conditions etc. have also played a role.
18. The review demonstrates that the DA scheme includes a hugely diverse range of clients with an equally broad range of needs in terms of activation and other supports. Against a background of a severe rise in unemployment, there is a need to ensure that activation services are directed in the most efficient way possible. The review proposes that a process of identifying capacity and segmentation be introduced at the point of application for DA with a view to better matching services and needs.
19. In the context of the disregard arrangements which facilitate take-up of employment, the review indicates that further efforts are required to emphasise the message that work pays for DA claimants.
20. The review recommends that collection of medical data be enhanced in order to enhance the evidence base for identifying the scope for more effective targeted early interventions and for improving the matching of activation services and client needs.
21. The review recommends that the issue of increasing the minimum qualifying age for DA from 16 to 18 be revisited and also supports the merger of the Blind Pension scheme and the DA scheme.
Implementation of Recommendations
22. DSP has been engaged in consultations on the findings of the DA review through the DSP/Disability Sectoral Group, DSP Consultative Forum and National Disability Authority Seminar. DSP is currently engaged in an intensive process through a working group established under the DSP/Disability Sectoral Group which is exploring options for increasing employment of people with disabilities (including key recommendations in the DA review, notably increasing the minimum age for the scheme from 16 to 18.) This exercise will lead to a set of proposals to be presented to the Minister in September 2011, with a view to consideration in the context of Budget 2012.
23. It is intended to provide for the rationalisation of means-tested disability schemes involving the merging of the Disability Allowance and Blind Pension schemes by way of legislative provisions to be included in the autumn 2011 Social Welfare Bill.
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24. In line with the requirements of the EU/IMF Programme, a progress report on the implementation of the recommendations of the DA review will be presented in December 2012. Similarly, a report setting out a programme of reforms will be provided in March 2012.
VFM Review on Child Income Support: The main issues relating to the VFM report on Child Income Support are related and are dealt with in the Chapter 6.
Partial Capacity Benefit Scheme
25. The OECD has noted that the inherent problem with most public disability schemes is that entitlement is not determined according to a reliable and valid assessment of a person‟s capacity to engage in the labour market. Instead, a medical practitioner with minimal or no training in the complex task of assessing how various injuries or ailments reduce labour market capacity, is required to estimate globally whether a person is unfit for work, including into the future. In practice, such decision-making will inevitably vary considerably and unreliably across practitioners. The result of such systems is that significant numbers of people with partial work capacity, who are not wholly „uncompetitive‟ in the labour market, become deemed unable to work. The lack of planned periodic reassessment effectively seals their fate and any adaptation that they develop over time will not be recognised. Upon receipt of a long-term disability payment, the formal obligation to seek employment ceases. In most benefit systems, they are also indirectly compelled to remain inactive and assert they are incapable of work in order to continue to receive payments.
26. Against the background of rising numbers on illness and disability schemes, a number of countries, including the UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands, have introduced welfare reforms in recent years which aim to address this issue. The introduction of the Partial Capacity Benefit scheme seeks to respond to weaknesses in the current structure of the Irish welfare system, which categorises people only as „fit to work‟ or „unfit to work‟, and which does not reflect the reality for many existing welfare clients.
27. The scheme will provide an opportunity for people with disabilities, and assessed to have an employment capacity which is restricted when compared to the norm, to avail of employment opportunities while continuing to receive an income support payment. The scheme will be open to people who are in receipt of Invalidity Pension (IP) or who have been in receipt of Illness Benefit (IB) for a minimum of six months. Participation in the scheme will be voluntary and the scheme is designed in particular to respond to the needs of people who currently seek to avail of „exemptions‟ in order to take up employment opportunities. The limitations on hours worked which apply under the existing „exemptions‟ arrangements will not apply to the new scheme.
28. IP and IB clients who wish to avail of employment opportunities will be required to undertake a partial capacity assessment by a Medical Assessor. On the basis of advice from the Chief Medical Advisor, they will be categorised into one of four cohorts and will be entitled to a personal rate payment on that basis:
105 29. Level of restriction on capacity for work:
Profound: Full-rate payment
Severe: 75% payment
Moderate: 50% payment
Mild/Normal: Disallowed for payment
30. The rate of payment will depend on the qualifying scheme from which the person originates and his/ her level of capacity for work. The reduction in payment rates will be applied to the personal rate only. Increases paid in respect of qualified adults and/or children will not be