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Let Your Business Spring Forward – New Training Programmes announced! DUN LAOGHAIRE Rathdown County Enterprise Board has just announced its Spring season of training programmes for people who are thinking about starting their own business or who are already in business and wish to upskill. All of these courses are aimed specifically at people working in small businesses and are based in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. In January, we have two Start Your Own Business courses commencing. The first starts on January 19th and is aimed at people in the 50+ age bracket and in addition to the key topics on general business start-up, will also include relevant issues like succession planning. The second is aimed at all those considering starting a business and will commence on January 31st. Both are taking place in the Enterprise Board offices in Nutgrove Enterprise Park. On February 2nd, in Blackrock, a course on Online Marketing & Social Media for Business starts and will cover everything needed to maximise the use of new media in promoting your own small business, and on February 22nd, in Rathfarnham, a course in Small Business Accounting will take place. All of these courses will be complemented by workshops and seminars throughout the year. Further details on all of these courses, and the other supports open to small businesses locally, are on the Enterprise Board’s website – www. dlrceb.ie – and you can enrol and pay online.
OPINION Tackling the question of who In the wake of a Government proposal to force companies to fund a portion of employees’ sick leave, we look at two very different opinions on the move
Managing the cost of illness benefit Q JOAN BURTON TD
Minister for Social Protection
TOO many workers leave the labour market due to health problems and too few people with reduced work capacity are working. This is a social and economic tragedy. It is a social tragedy, because it leaves people stranded on benefit payments when they might otherwise be working; and it is an economic tragedy because it is costing a fortune to deliver poor outcomes. Illness Benefit is a payment for insured people who cannot work due to illness. The cost of Illness Benefit alone has risen from €330 million to €900 million over the last 10 years. This is one of reasons that the Social Insurance Fund had a hole of €1.9 billion at the end of last year. There are three main
ways to fill that hole. First, we can raise the amount that employers and employees pay in to the fund through their PRSI contributions. Second, we can reduce the benefits we pay out to people who make claims. Third, we can reform the system. One way to reform the system is to introduce a statutory sick pay scheme under which the employer funds sick pay for a period of time before the Social Insurance Fund steps in. In Ireland, Illness Benefit is usually payable by the Social Insurance Fund after the third day of illness. Instead, I would like to see employers in the public and the private sectors step in after the third day and pay for sick pay for an initial period of a few weeks. This would help plug the hole in the Social Insurance Fund and
Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD
reduce levels of absenteeism in both the public and private sectors with consequent savings for all. Most other European
countries oblige employers to pay some sick pay costs. In the Netherlands, employers pay for the first two years, in the UK they pay for 28 weeks and in Germany they pay for six weeks. The example of the Netherlands is an inspiring one. Sickness related absentee rates in the Netherlands fell from 10% to 4% following the introduction of statutory sick pay there. Employers in Ireland are in the enviable position of making both very low PRSI contributions and no contribution to sick pay absence costs. The OECD, in its annual review of taxation (Taxing Wages 2010), calculated that the average employer insurance contribution in Ireland was 9.7%. There are only six countries out of 34 countries surveyed that
have a lower social insurance contribution from employers. The OECD also recommended introducing a mandatory period of employer-provided sick pay in Ireland. I h ave m e t w i t h employer representative groups, both large and small. I am acutely aware of the particular difficulties being faced by many companies, especially smaller ones, during these tough economic times. That is why I will be holding a consultation with employers, OECD representatives, public health professionals, trade unions and other experts next month to see if we can establish common ground on ways to manage sick absences and plug the hole in the Social Insurance Fund. I will be listening very carefully to all their views.