509. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will introduce the payment of illness benefit for the self-employed in view of the fact that they find themselves in financial difficulty once they become ill or sick, short-term; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42773/24]

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 depends on 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.

In circumstances where people are ill but do not qualify for illness benefit or invalidity pension, my Department provides means tested supports under the disability allowance scheme and supplementary welfare allowance scheme . An additional needs payment may also be available to people who have expenses that they cannot pay from their weekly income.

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.