Mr. Jamie Farrelly:

The working age payment is in development and it would address a lot of the issues. We were supposed to hear more about the payment by the end of last year. I hope that we will hear more on the payment soon because it would make a huge impact.

It is difficult to get a sense of the impact of the payment. For example, we know that 85% of home care workers who claim a State benefit would work two more hours. There is also a cohort of people who are completely outside the workforce which means they do not engage with means testing and these rules. All the international evidence from the OECD and the Cross-Departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group, CD-SWAG, report says that people in receipt of State benefits are an important recruitment pool. Therefore, the payment could have a huge impact.