Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has described\nthe changes to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, which have led to a\nreassessment in many cases as \u201cimpacting negatively on recipients, including\nmany Taxi drivers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recent changes to the PUP system have led to the payments to\nmany drivers being cut and subsequently presenting major difficulties in trying\nto appeal the assessment decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachta Crowe said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe recent changes to Pandemic Unemployment Payment, or\nEmergency COVID payment, reassessment is impacting negatively on many welfare\nrecipients including a large number of Taxi drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne driver who was in touch with my constituency office had\nearnings of nearly \u20ac43,000 for 2018 and had up to date tax returns, but was cut\nin a recent assessment by the Department of Social Protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDrivers say there is long delay in the appeals mechanism\nand that when they ring the helpline phone number, it reroutes you to an email\naddress PUPrerate@welfare.ie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is extremely frustrating for those caught up in this\nsituation and I am calling on the Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys\nto introduce a fairer and more stream lined system for those who feel hard done\nby her latest changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need an appeal system where applicants can get a hearing\nin a timely manner. Many are saying they are currently experiencing delays of\nup to 4 weeks. That\u2019s a long time to be waiting when are appealing the decision\nthat has led to another substantial drop in your income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am receiving other messages to my office that some people\nare waiting nice weeks on their initial application to their local Intreo\noffice. These waiting times can be the difference between keeping a roof over\nyour head or missing two months rent. \n\n\n\n\u201cThe PUP payment was and is a safety net for\nworkers who have seen their incomes slashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot\npull the rug from under people\u2019s feet now, especially when lockdown is\nreturning to some parts of the country.\u201d\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has described the changes to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, which have led to a reassessment in many cases as \u201cimpacting negatively on recipients, including many Taxi drivers\u201d. Recent changes to the PUP system have led to the payments to many drivers being cut and subsequently presenting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4277,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273\/revisions\/4277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}