Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 114 and 144 together.

The single working age assistance payment or single payment is a proposal to create a single social welfare payment that would cover all people of working age including those who would be currently classified as unemployed, with a disability or parenting alone. The Department of Social Protection has been considering the option of a single payment for some time. In 2009, under the previous Government, the Department examined the desirability and feasibility, both from a policy and operational perspective, of introducing a single social assistance payment for all people of working age - broadly speaking, those aged 18 to 66 - with the objective of improving the outcomes for this group. This examination drew, inter alia, on work carried out by the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, and reflected in its report, The Developmental Welfare State, which it produced in 2005. The report highlighted the need for greater interaction between services, income support and activation measures, and saw these as developmental for families, communities and the economy. A recurring theme in the NESC report is that the current contingency-based payments to people of working age can operate to confirm a person's status as someone outside of the workforce rather than as an unemployed member of it.

In November 2010, the then Minister, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív approved the publication of the Department's review of the Report on the Desirability and Feasibility of Introducing a Single Social Assistance Payment for People of Working Age. This report examined the current system of social assistance payments against the background of the broader policy rationale for a single payment, which was based on the policy that people are given or directed to the supports or services they need in order to return to or take up work or other training or educational opportunities. It is also based on the rationale that the outcomes for people from a poverty and social inclusion point of view must be improved, and also that any changes to the current system must ensure that work pays.

On foot of the publication of the Department's feasibility report, the Department held a consultation seminar with relevant stakeholders in July 2011. The purpose of this seminar was to brief stakeholders on the findings of the feasibility report and to listen to their views in regard to the proposed development of a single payment. Mr. John Martin, director for employment, labour and social affairs at the OECD made a presentation to the seminar on his response to the Department's feasibility report.

It must be stressed that the development of supports and services is a necessary precondition for the introduction of a single payment. In that context, the Department of Social Protection, through an interdepartmental group, is working to assess what services and supports would be required to support the introduction of a single payment, should it be decided to proceed with its introduction.

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