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Information Note on the
Pandemic Unemployment Payment & People Going
Abroad on Holidays/Airport Checks
Issue
 Over the weekend, there have been various media reports
about the payment of the Pandemic Unemployment
Payment (PUP) where people are leaving the country on
holidays and the issue of Genuinely Seeking
Employment etc.
PUP Origins
 The introduction of the PUP was an immediate response
to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted economic
life and society since mid-March. Originally it was
intended to be an income support for a period of 12
weeks up to early June.
 From the outset, the PUP has been regarded as an
unemployment payment with similar terms and
conditions applying. Being genuinely seeking work
(GSW) is one of the main conditions for receipt of a
jobseekers payment.
 During the period March to end June, Ireland was
effectively in a national shut-down. While PUP was
termed an unemployment payment, it would not have
been realistic or practical to highlight the need to be
GSW at that time.

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 Since then the position regarding the PUP emergency
payment has evolved and the economy is slowly getting
back to a new normal.
 It was always clear that PUP recipients who are offered
employment must return to work. In April, following
complaints from employers that staff, were refusing to
return to work as they were in receipt of PUP, the
Department introduced a process for employers to
highlight and report these incidents. These cases are then
investigated by the Department. This issue of people not
returning to work was the subject of significant media
attention at the time.
 The Government announced last week that the PUP was
being extended beyond the 10th August to April 2021 at
which time its rate of payment will effectively merge
with the equivalent jobseeker’s rate. Therefore, the
conditions attached to the receipt of an unemployment
payment are moving into focus e.g. the requirement to be
GSW.
 Last week on Wednesday the 22nd, the Department
published a Bill, which places the PUP on its own
statutory basis, which is important as the payment has
now been extended to April 2021. Contained within this

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legislative provision are the eligibility requirements for
the PUP, including the requirement to be GSW.
 The Department has stated that GSW applies to
recipients of the PUP in reply to multiple press queries
since the start of July.

Travel Abroad and Compliance Checks
 Under section 249 of the consolidated social welfare Act,
social assistance payments are not payable when a person
leaves the State - this applies to PUP and Jobseeker’s
Allowance. In line with this provision PUP is not paid to
people who are leaving the country to reside elsewhere
or who go on holidays abroad. The eligibility criteria
have always been clear that a recipient must be living in
the State in order to receive a PUP payment and cannot
be absent from the State. Neither is the payment paid to
individuals during a 14 day quarantine period.
 These rules also currently apply to Jobseeker’s assistance
payments Separately there is provision for people to
suspend ‘signing-on' for a two week period each year.
This is to allow people to take a holiday from genuinely
seeking work. Although, under law, people should
remain in the State, the Department does not normally

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enquire into a person’s travel arrangements when
notified that a person is suspending signing-on.
 As part of its normal control work, the Department of
Social Protection carries out compliance inspections at
ports and airports throughout the course of the year.
Since 2012, social welfare inspectors have had legal
powers to carry out these checks as part of the ongoing
control and compliance work they are engaged in.
 The legal basis for the control and compliance checks is
Section 250 (16) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act
2005, as amended by Section 17 of the Social Welfare
and Pensions Act 2012.
 These checks are carried out as certain social welfare
payments are only paid to people residing in the State.
 Since March 2020, 2,000 PUP claims have been closed
as a result of checks carried out in Dublin airport. The
vast majority of the PUP cases stopped as a result of this
work relate to individuals leaving the country who are
not holiday makers, but are leaving the country on a
permanent basis. If a person returns to Ireland, it is open
to them to reapply for the PUP. Since the 7th July 104
PUP recipients and 44 Jobseekers have been stopped.

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

The DAA does not pass information to the Department.
The Department does not have access to travel data, nor
does it have access to travel locator forms from any
airport or port. Nor does the Department of Social
Protection receive travel information from the
Department of Justice.

 These compliance checks involve inspectors speaking
directly with passengers and any information gathered is
only used for the purpose for which is gathered. It is an
offence for a person to obstruct an Inspector when
carrying out their duties.
Changes Based on Government Travel Advice
 The advice from the National Public Health Emergency
Team and Government is to holiday at home this
summer. This advice is there to protect our citizens and
to save lives.
 Under normal circumstances, there is a flexibility under
Social Protection legislation whereby a person on
jobseekers payment can suspend looking for work for a
two week period i.e. cease ‘signing-on' and it doesn’t
affect their payment. Usually, notwithstanding the
requirement for people to be present in the State the
Department does not enquire into their travel

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arrangements or suspend their payment if they travel
abroad.
 However, we are in the midst of a global pandemic and
in that context, we have temporarily suspended the
flexibility for people travelling abroad while on
jobseekers or PUP. Absences from the State for PUP and
Jobseeker’s Allowance are covered under Section 249 of
Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. The Minister
signed a statutory instrument on 10th July that
temporarily suspended the payment of Jobseeker’s
Benefit for absences outside the State. Periods of up to 2
weeks are only permitted in accordance with the Covid19 General Travel Advisory in operation by the
Department of Foreign Affairs.
 If a person has to travel for urgent reasons, if there is
death or if a family member is sick, the Department will
take account of those exceptional circumstances. This
information was notified to Intreo offices at an earlier
date.
 The Government is not discriminating against social
welfare recipients – public sector staff who must
undertake quarantine for the 14 day period must take
either annual leave or unpaid leave to cover this absence
from work. Many private companies are also applying
these rules.

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 These rules currently apply to people receiving
jobseekers payments, as well as the PUP.

 This issue of travel abroad is very fluid and we have seen
the recent experience of UK citizens in Spain who
discovered at the weekend that they must now quarantine
for two weeks upon return to the UK.
 Given the evolving nature of travel during the Covid-19
pandemic this issue will be kept under ongoing review
by the Government.
 The Department of Social Protection updates its website
regularly and consequently as a result of the requirement
to clarify the issues of those on PUP seeking to take a
holiday abroad and genuinely seeking working, the
Department’s website was updated early this week.
 This should not be perceived as a change in policy but
rather a reflection that this aspect of the receipt of PUP
should be highlighted and communicated across the
Department’s channels.

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Appendix
Section 250 (16) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act
2005, as amended by Section 17 of the Social Welfare and
Pensions Act 2012