Dáil debates
Thursday, 14 July 2022
Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions
Social Welfare Schemes
11:30 am
Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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87. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her Department will consider expanding the qualifying criteria for the working family payment scheme. [38131/22]
Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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The working family payment scheme is very important for people in low-paid employment. Will the Minister consider expanding it in the budget?
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The working family payment is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees with children who are on low earnings. It is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low-paid workers with child dependants and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment. Eligibility for the payment is not linked to receipt of a social welfare payment but rather a person must be in employment for at least 38 hours per fortnight.
To qualify for the working family payment, the average total weekly family income must be below the relevant income threshold for the family's size. The payment is calculated at 60% of the difference between the total family income and the income threshold that applies to the family.
The income threshold increases with the number of children. For example, the weekly income threshold for families with one child is €551 and for families with two children it is €652. Budget 2022 provided for a €10 weekly increase in the working family payment income limits for families of all sizes. As part of a package of measures to assist families with the cost of living, implementation of this increase was brought forward to April of this year.
The average weekly payment made to families is currently estimated at €140 per week. Approximately 47,000 families with 103,000 children are in receipt of the working family payment. Based on current and projected claim volumes, the Department estimates expenditure of €348 million on the scheme this year.
Any further expansion of the scheme must be considered in a budgetary context.
11:40 am
Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State will be aware of the report published yesterday showing that there are now 62,000 children living in consistent poverty. That this is the case in this day and age is one of our greatest sources of shame. I accept we have the roadmap to social inclusion, which is important, and I know work is under way in regard to that, but this is something we really need to get to grips with. One of the targeted measures put forward yesterday by the Children's Rights Alliance was to extend the fuel allowance to recipients of the working family payment. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has sought that for some time and it should be considered in the budget. That is the reason I raise the matter this morning.
We know there are approximately 370,000 people in low-paid work. Pre-Covid, it was approximately one in five people. That is very much at odds with the fact that there are just 47,000 people in receipt of the working family payment. Perhaps the promotion of the scheme could be considered again. I know that has been done but the figures do not seem to add up.
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of child poverty. The working family payment and other targeted measures such as the increase for a qualified child are specifically designed to assist with that. We have introduced other measures as well. We recently announced changes to three initiatives to assist families with children. The back-to-school costs package is worth a total of €67 million. As a result, the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance is being increased by €100 for each eligible child under the scheme. In addition, the school meals programme is being extended to a further 310 schools that were designated as DEIS schools - delivering equality of opportunity in schools - in March. Students availing of the school transport scheme will not be charged fees for the next academic year.
We will look at the working family payment. In another piece of research published by the Department and the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, earlier this year the working family payment was identified as being particularly effective in alleviating poverty levels, so we will look at that payment.
Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the measures that have been taken. I also welcome the increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. That is an important initiative and it is important that it was increased, especially this year.
Something does not add up if we have approximately 370,000 people working in low-paid jobs and we have 47,000 people receiving the working family payment. Many more people should be accessing the working family payment, which is an important support, in particular when it comes to the current level of child poverty. I think it was the Society of St. Vincent de Paul that put forward a proposal to establish a cross-party committee of the Dáil to consider child poverty, which is clearly growing and should be causing alarm bells to go off for everyone in this House. That we have 62,000 children living in consistent poverty in 2022 in one of the richest countries on the globe is a major issue. It is something we have not got to grips with, and we need to do so very quickly. The Government should consider establishing such a committee.
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I have been working with my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman. We had a formal meeting about issues relating to child poverty and setting a new target to reduce it. We will have the successor to Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures as well. We are also in the process of bringing on board an EU child guarantee. Those are frameworks that will push matters on politically as well.
In terms of people who are working and are also under that line, the Government wants to ensure the welfare system supports people in taking up employment and increasing their level of employment. The Pathways to Work strategy includes a commitment to prepare a paper on options to modify the longer term jobseeker's assistance payment by utilising the Revenue real-time earnings data to adjust payment levels in line with a person's weekly earnings to guarantee a basic income floor and ensure that in all cases a person's earnings increase when he or she works. When people are on a welfare payment, especially if they have children, there is always a decision to be made on whether it is worthwhile to take up employment. We want to ensure that is always the case and the options paper will help us to get to that point.