Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans regarding the future of family income supplement and its income limits. [26027/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The family income supplement, or FIS payment, is designed to provide income for employees on low earnings who have families. The FIS payment preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she was unemployed and claiming other social welfare payments. Some people may believe that taking up employment might only offer a marginal improvement to their income.

The Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure on FIS of nearly €230 million in 2013. There are currently just over 40,440 families benefiting from the FIS scheme. Given that we have discussed this issue on previous occasions, I am happy to inform the Deputy that the processing of all FIS applications, both new and renewed, made to my Department are fully up to date and all backlogs have been eliminated. I have informed the Deputy about all the changes in IT we were implementing.

To qualify for payment, a person must be engaged in full-time, insurable employment, which is expected to last for at least three months, and must be working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight, or 19 hours per week. Furthermore, the average family income must be below an income threshold, which varies according to the number of qualifying children in the family.

A comprehensive and easy to understand information booklet and application form are available on the Department's website. In this regard it should be noted that since 16 January 2013, the date on which the new departmental website was launched, the FIS pages have received almost 40,000 page views, which indicates the strong interest in the scheme.

FIS income thresholds have been maintained at the same level since 2010. Prior to this, FIS income thresholds had risen broadly in line with equivalent social welfare rates so as to maintain their value relative to unemployment payments. A change in FIS income thresholds would have financial implications which would have to be considered in the context of the budget. There are no plans to do so currently. More generally, I recognise that creating jobs and tackling poverty are the key challenges. In this context, FIS plays an important role.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the news that the backlog has virtually gone and that FIS applications are on track. It is a useful scheme because increasing numbers of people who are in reduced employment because of the downturn and whose overtime and hours have been cut are now finding themselves to be a working poverty group in Irish society. Is there any indication why so many are not applying? There is an indication that quite a number of those who would be able to avail of this service do not do so although it appears the website may address some of the issues. If there was full application by those who are caught in this circumstance, the Minister's budget of €230 million would need to increase.

The Minister stated there was no such intention at present but I presume that, in line with all budgetary decisions, during the coming month her Department will be looking at all areas of social welfare and social protection payments. Given the poverty that exists in this area I encourage the Minister to look at the thresholds to ensure that more people could qualify. It concerns not only those who are marginally better off in work - some people are actually worse off working but would still prefer to avail of opportunities to work in the hope that work will pay in the future.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My view, which I have given to the Deputy on a number of occasions, is that people are always better off in work. They may start back on a relatively low income but very often, having worked for a period, they get increases. It is better for those people and their families that they should work.

The Deputy is right to state that the number of people interested in family income supplement at present is climbing. I hope the improvements in the website contribute to that. If one goes back to 2007, before the collapse, there were 37,000 people receiving FIS. By the end of 2011 there were 51,000 and the figure is on the increase. We have already received a significant number of new applications and applications for renewal to date this year.

Why is the scheme not better known? To the end of April this year we had received 7,500 new applications and 10,700 renewal applications. These are strong figures and indicate that further increase is likely by the end of this year. I suspect FIS is not better known because for those people who work with large employers there tends to be a knowledge within HR departments. Perhaps with smaller employers people may be reluctant to give details of their personal circumstances to their employers or those employers may be reluctant to take part in the scheme. The Department has set up an employer relations division to go out and knock on employers' doors and talk to them about the fantastic people who are on the live register. I have spoken at several meetings with employers, perhaps 2,500 since last October, when we started this very intensive process. In early July we are launching Jobs Plus, an employers further assistance in terms of PRSI. One of the points I will bring to the attention of employers is the availability of this very important assistance to families on low income, in particular those with children.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome any move that further highlights this area and cannot see why employers would object in any way, given that their employees might be a little happier if they had an additional income.

I refer to the advisory group on tax and social welfare proposals. If its proposals, which relate to child income supports etc., went ahead the families who are in receipt of FIS would be much worse off.

I understand the families in receipt of FIS would be much worse off because the thresholds for the second tier of child benefit mean they would lose part of their child benefits. The thresholds do not match. Can the Minister comment on that issue?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The advisory group is examining the issue of in-work supports for families with children. Although the group's report is often referred to solely in the context of child benefit, it actually considered all payments made to families with children. The total amount paid in benefits is almost €3 billion, of which child benefit is €2 billion. One of the reasons the group is considering in-work supports is precisely to find out why more people do not avail of them and whether changes can be introduced to make it easier for both employee and employer to make use of the scheme.

In regard to advertising, the Department's website has received approximately 6 million hits since its revamp. We intend to place information on the FIS scheme on the website's revolving banner in order to draw attention to it. I agree with the Deputy that it is an excellent scheme which offers a significant boost in income for families with children. It is well known to a significant number of public service employees, such as those who work on a part-time basis in the HSE, but in other workplaces it does not seem to attract the number of applications one would expect.