Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The one-parent family payment, OFP scheme supports over 74,400 recipients at an estimated cost of €863 million in 2014. Despite significant levels of State spending, the results have been poor in tackling poverty rates among lone-parent families. The aim of the current reforms is to provide the necessary supports to lone parents to help them to escape joblessness by providing them with improved access to education, training and employment programmes.

The reforms to the OFP scheme are being introduced on a phased basis over several years. On 3 July, the latest phase of the OFP reforms was implemented when 5,140 lone parents transferred entitlement from OFP to other schemes. Affected persons with a child aged under 14 years will be entitled to the jobseeker's allowance transitional arrangement, which exempts them from having to be genuinely seeking, and available for, full-time employment. This enables lone parents with young children who are working part-time, for example, mornings only, to remain in work and to receive income and activation supports as appropriate. Others affected will transfer to family income supplement, jobseeker's allowance, carer’s allowance and some other schemes.

The majority of recipients will not suffer any reduction in their new payment as they are not working. However, lone parents who are working and who transfer to jobseeker's allowance may suffer a reduction in their payment due to the fact that the jobseeker's allowance means test is less generous than the OFP means test. The exact amount of this reduction will depend on the customers’ earnings. However, the Department has advised all individuals that where they work a minimum of 19 hours per week or can increase their hours to that level, to apply for the family income supplement as this is the most beneficial income support available to them.

See this speech in context