240. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will extend illness benefit to self-employed people with chronic or terminal illnesses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42245/24]

Illness benefit is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for illness benefit is generally not dependent on the type of illness but on medical certification and the person’s PRSI record and class. The person must have made the required number of contributions under class A, E, H or P to qualify. In general, self-employed people make PRSI contributions at Class S which does not provide entitlement to illness benefit.

Self-employed people pay contributions to the Social Insurance Fund at a lower rate of 4.1%. This is 11.15 percentage points lower than the combined employer and employee contribution of 15.25% made in respect of employed contributors. However, self-employed contributors do have access to over 90% of benefits available to employed contributors including;

• Adoptive Benefit;

• Guardian's Payment (Contributory);

• Invalidity Pension;

• Jobseeker's Benefit (Self-Employed);

• Maternity Benefit;

• Parent's Benefit;

• Partial Capacity Benefit (where in receipt of Invalidity Pension);

• Paternity Benefit;

• State Pension (Contributory);

• Treatment Benefit; and

• Widows, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) Pension.

In addition, I was pleased to announce in the Budget that entitlement to carer's benefit will be extended to Class S contributors from the beginning of 2025.

As a result, the only benefits that class S PRSI will not provide access to are health and safety benefit, illness benefit and occupational injuries benefits.

The Deputy's question refers to persons who are chronically or terminally ill. The two main long-term disability income support payments provided by my Department are invalidity pension and disability allowance.

Invalidity pension is a social insurance scheme paid from the Social Insurance Fund. Eligibility is based on PRSI contributions (including Class S contributions paid by self-employed persons) and medical condition. To qualify, the person must have been incapable of work for at least 12 months and be likely to be incapable of work for at least another 12 months or must be permanently incapable of work. In the case of terminal illness, this is considered permanent. If the person has the required contributions, they should get a letter from their doctor confirming that it is a terminal condition.

Disability allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and habitual residence conditions.

People who are ill but do not qualify for other illness or disability schemes may apply for means tested supports through the additional needs payment under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to help meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. This includes certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from a person’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary.

My Department will continue to keep its range of supports under review to ensure that they meet their overall objectives. Any changes to the current system would need to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context, and in the context of social insurance contribution rates for self-employed contributors.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.