Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In addition to income supports, my Department provides a wide range of employment supports and services designed to assist lone parents to enter or return to employment. Both the one-parent family payment and the jobseeker’s transitional payment have been designed to support persons to pursue their individual employment goals. These schemes include an earnings disregard whereby the first €165 of weekly earnings is not assessed as part of the means test. In addition, 50% of earnings above €165 per week is disregarded in the means test. In April 2021, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, removed the earnings threshold of €425 per week which was being applied to persons in receipt of the one-parent family payment. The working family payment supports more than 45,600 persons with children into employment. More than half of recipients are one-parent households. Budget 2024 saw the third successive increase to the payment’s income thresholds for all family sizes. As a result, the earnings thresholds for all family sizes have increased by more than €100 per week since budget 2022.

My Department is also running a pilot project, lone parents digital activation, in partnership with the NGO One Family. This pilot project is co-financed by the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation, EaSI, which is a European-level financial instrument managed by the European Commission.

This action aims at reaching out to those furthest away from the labour market by developing their employment and education and training capabilities and further enhancing their social inclusion. The Department of Social Protection is the lead partner and, in addition to One Family, there are three partners in Greece and one in Finland. The project commenced in November 2021, has a duration of 30 months, and will conclude at the end of April 2024. My Department will continue to develop the schemes and services available to support lone parents to enter or return to employment.

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