Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Based on a recommendation of the report of the child maintenance review group, child maintenance payments were due to be disregarded from the means test for social welfare payments from 1 May under the Social Welfare (Liable Relatives and Child Maintenance) Bill 2023. This means that many lone parents on reduced rates of payment will see their payments increase and others will qualify for a payment. However, one of my constituents recently contacted me regarding this and she is still being means tested. On querying this with her local welfare office, the advice was that the office had not received word from the Department to change the payment. This new initiative will benefit over 16,000 lone parents. This change is overdue. Perhaps the Tánaiste can investigate the situation as maintenance is still being involved in the means test.

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