Farmers above the age of 60 participating in the Rural Social Scheme (RSS) will soon be permitted to remain in the scheme up to the age of 66 without the need to undergo any further means testing or renewal process under planned changes to the scheme.

The RSS gives contracted work to eligible farmers or fishers in receipt of farm assist or at least one qualifying social welfare payment.

The contracts are for 19.5 hours of work per week, with payments currently based off the underlying social welfare payment plus €27.50/week subject to a minimum rate of €259.50/week.

Budget 2025 payment increases will see this weekly payment rise by €12 in January to take minimum payments to €271.50/week.

Those participating in the scheme are subject to normal tax and PRSI deductions, which Government says can help to establish entitlement to the short- and longer-term PRSI benefits, including the contributory State pension at age 66.

The scheme has places for 3,350 participants and 139 supervisors, but, at the end of September, there were only 2,699 participants and 126 supervisors on the scheme’s books.

Review and pilot

The changes to the RSS come on foot of a recent review which issued a series of recommendations currently under Department of Rural and Community Development officials’ assessment.

Speaking before the Oireachtas committee on social protection earlier this month, Minister of State Joe O’Brien stated that the “rural dweller” recommendation is being piloted for 250 scheme participants posing the opportunity for “quite a dramatic change” to the scheme.

This could see eligibility criteria decoupled from the farm or trawler, opening the scheme up to couples on social welfare aged over 50 who could both use the same herd number or fishing license to secure payment.

“That will open it up to I know not how many more people but the eligibility pool will be multiplied exponentially,” Minister O’Brien told the committee.

“That could change the scheme dramatically going into the future as well. On the rural dwellers pilot, there will be 250 places initially.”