Brian Stanley criticises pension bill for excluding low-paid workers
Brian Stanley spoke against the pensions and social measures in the bill, arguing it leaves low-paid and social-welfare-dependent people worse off and that auto-enrolment excludes workers earning below £20,000. He called for protection of the basic state pension, higher employer PRSI, a one-off cost-of-living measure, removal of the carers allowance means test and greater inclusion of disabled people in work.
He warned the proposed auto-enrolment scheme leaves out those earning below £20,000 and that many low-paid and part-time workers - a large number of whom will be women - have been left behind. He said workers should be allowed to put in three euros with the employer and the State each contributing a euro.
He insisted the basic state pension must be maintained on the basis of contributions made over a 40-year period and cautioned against using auto-enrolment to reduce the state pension. He also argued people should retain the option to retire at current ages and be able to work longer if they wish - including phased retirements with 30- or 20-hour weeks or working up to age 70.
He raised concern that the company running the scheme appears to be connected to the greater genocide effort by the terrorist State of Israel and said that connection needs immediate review. He suggested the State, via State Savings Schemes or a similar vehicle, could operate or administer the system instead.
He noted the bill allows only a slight change while employers' PRSI is one of the lowest rates in Europe, warning the social insurance fund will not be sufficient to sustain pensions without higher contributions. He said employers who pay very large salaries - 200,000, 300 or 400,000 a year - should pay more PRSI to ensure adequate funding.
He described the current cost-of-living crisis as unprecedented and said small budget increases will not lift vulnerable people out of poverty, noting 190,000 children are in immediate poverty. He urged the government to introduce a one-off measure to ease winter price increases, to remove the means test for carers allowance which has been repeatedly promised but not delivered, and to increase disabled people's participation in the workforce.
Auto-enrolment exclusion
He warned the proposed auto-enrolment scheme leaves out those earning below £20,000 and that many low-paid and part-time workers - a large number of whom will be women - have been left behind. He said workers should be allowed to put in three euros with the employer and the State each contributing a euro.
State pension and retirement options
He insisted the basic state pension must be maintained on the basis of contributions made over a 40-year period and cautioned against using auto-enrolment to reduce the state pension. He also argued people should retain the option to retire at current ages and be able to work longer if they wish - including phased retirements with 30- or 20-hour weeks or working up to age 70.
Scheme administration and alleged company links
He raised concern that the company running the scheme appears to be connected to the greater genocide effort by the terrorist State of Israel and said that connection needs immediate review. He suggested the State, via State Savings Schemes or a similar vehicle, could operate or administer the system instead.
Funding and employers' PRSI
He noted the bill allows only a slight change while employers' PRSI is one of the lowest rates in Europe, warning the social insurance fund will not be sufficient to sustain pensions without higher contributions. He said employers who pay very large salaries - 200,000, 300 or 400,000 a year - should pay more PRSI to ensure adequate funding.
Cost of living, poverty and carers' allowance means test
He described the current cost-of-living crisis as unprecedented and said small budget increases will not lift vulnerable people out of poverty, noting 190,000 children are in immediate poverty. He urged the government to introduce a one-off measure to ease winter price increases, to remove the means test for carers allowance which has been repeatedly promised but not delivered, and to increase disabled people's participation in the workforce.
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Transcript
This bill keeps those who are on low pay and those who are compelled to live in social welfare in poverty and further in poverty for another year. I will just deal with the auto-enrolment system first. The auto-enrolment system leaves out those earning below £20,000 and it may be the case that they may not accumulate a huge pension over their work life, but people who are earning below £20,000 are entitled to have the same rights as those who earn £100,000. It fails me as to why they have been excluded. They have been left behind, you know, let the worker put in the three euros, the employer and the state put in a euro. I just think it is a big omission in this. It left out low pay workers and part-time workers and a lot of them will be women. The other concern I have is that auto-enrolment, we want to ensure that in the coming years that is not used to reduce the state pension. The basic state pension, that level of payment has to be maintained on the basis of the contributions made by people over a 40-year period. Just also on retirement, I think that the option, well, people should be able to retire at the age they are now, at the same level as I said at the moment, we should allow the option and provide a greater option for people to work till they are 70, where they so wish to do so. Because there is a lot of talk about a pension time bomb, you know, and how we are going to head this off. And one of the ways we can do it is, there are a lot of people who are working, who would like to wind down, you know, to come to 65, they might not want to work 40 hours a week, five days a week, but might want to work 30 hours a week or 20 hours a week, and we should facilitate that and to make a contribution to society, pay taxes and it allows them to retire on a graduated basis. Just make those points in relation to that. I think the point in relation to the company that is running it, you know, if, if this company is connected to the, and it appears it is, connected to the greater genocide effort by the terrorist State of Israel, I don't, I think that needs to be reviewed straight away. And I wonder why the State itself running the scheme, something like the State Savings Schemes, or another scheme like that could not operate or administer this system themselves. In relation to employers PRSI, and that is, there is a slight change allowed for in the bill in that, we have one of the lowest rates of employers PRSI in Europe. And the social insurance fund is not going to be there to keep pensions going. Now I have mentioned one way of keeping it up, but we do need, particularly for high bed workers, we do need to increase the level of PRSI contribution from employers for workers if we are going to have an efficient amount of funding in that, in the coming years. In relation to social welfare increases, well I mean, they, those who are, those who are in poverty, they are further in poverty because we are in the middle of a cost-to-living crisis like I have never seen before. There are 190,000 children in immediate poverty, they are going to sink further into it. The, the, the, the small increase in the budget is not going to lift those vulnerable people out of it. There is no cost to live in measure, no cost, no on offs. Last year there was money for everything because there was an election. But of course the election is over now and there was no need to do it this year. And I just think that that is cynical and it, it is bad for politics, but it is also bad for poverty and those people who are forced to live in low incomes. In relation to disabled people as well, we need to start doing something about the low participation of disabled people in the workforce. Again, we are at the bottom of the class in terms of the EU. You know, we have a very, very low participation. The means test for the carers allowance, it was promised, it was promised and it was promised. And guess what? It has not happened. That is being forgotten about. And this is the point here. So in short, this budget, or this sorry, this, this bill, it, you know, the auto enrolment section of it, the auto enrolment needs to be revisited in terms of those workers on below 20,000. The PRSI contributions and the social insurance fund employers PRSI, particularly for high paid workers, needs to be revisited. If they can pay people 200,000, 300 or 400,000 a year, they can pay a bit more PRSI. The budget as well, we have to do something in terms of the cost of living package. And we will ask the government to bring in a one-off measure, even at this point, to alleviate the worst excesses of price increases that are there at the moment to help people over the winter period. And in relation to disabled people, you need to go back again in relation to the means test. The means test for carers allowance has to go, and we need to get more disabled people into the workforce. Thank you, Deputy. We now move on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.