Reform of rules for jobseekers' benefit recommended

An Oireachtas Committee has called for significant reforms to the rules governing the payment of jobseeker’s benefits to part-time workers.

In a report yesterday the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education urged that in future jobseeker’s payment should be calculated on the number of hours worked per week rather than the number of days.

Under current rules the primary requirement for jobseeker’s benefit is that an individual needs to be unemployed for three out of six days.

Fine Gael TD Anthony Lawlor, who wrote the report, said the current arrangement was “clearly unfair”.

Mr Lawlor said one person could work two 12-hour shifts over two days and be entitled to claim three days benefit, while another could work only two hours over five days and not qualify for any benefit at all.

The report recommends that part-time work should be defined as working 24 hours or less per week.