Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to discuss this Bill with Senators today. The purpose of the Bill is to change the means test for social welfare payments so that child maintenance payments will no longer be assessed as means, remove the liable relative provisions from social welfare legislation and change the supports provided to newly arriving beneficiaries of temporary protection who are resident in designated accommodation centres.

Two key elements of the Bill, which relate to child maintenance and the liable relative provisions, stem from the Report of the Child Maintenance Review Group. As Members are aware, in line with a programme for Government commitment, the Government set up the review group to consider and make recommendations on the current treatment of child maintenance payments in the Department of Social Protection, the current provisions regarding liable relatives managed by the Department and the establishment of a child maintenance agency in Ireland.

The group’s report was published in November 2022 and the Government accepted its three recommendations with regard to the social welfare system. The first such recommendation relates to the so-called "efforts to seek maintenance" requirement. Previously, recipients of the one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s transitional payment were required to prove to my Department that they had made efforts to seek maintenance from their child’s other parent. Often, this required parents to go to court who would not have done so otherwise. The Government accepted the group’s recommendation to abolish this requirement. As a result, my Department, on an administrative basis, stopped applying this requirement from late 2022. Last year, I signed regulations to remove the requirement from the Statute Book. I know this requirement was something that could cause additional stress for lone parents. As such, I am very pleased to have removed that requirement. It is a progressive step.

The other two recommendations made by the review group were to change the means tests for social welfare payments so that child maintenance payments are no longer assessed as means, and to remove the liable relatives provisions from social welfare legislation. The Government also accepted these recommendations and both are provided for in the Bill. The combined effect of these three measures will be to decouple child maintenance from the social welfare system.

I am very pleased to be providing for a significant change to social welfare means tests. This change will be of benefit to lone parents who, as we all know, are a very vulnerable group. I am changing the means test across all social assistance payments so that where a person is in receipt of a child maintenance payment, the amount of that payment will not be assessed against them. In doing this, we are taking the view that a child maintenance payment is for the child. As such, it should not have the effect of reducing their parent’s social assistance payment. I meet many lone parents in my work, as I am sure Members all do. I also met many lone parents when I worked in the credit union and I saw close-up how maintenance payments were very important to them. I often saw situations where the child maintenance payment was paid some weeks but not others. It was paid for one week, skipped for a few weeks and then maybe paid for another one. Sometimes, the full amount due might not be paid at all. I know this causes difficulties for people within the social welfare system as they could be assessed as having a certain amount of maintenance, which they might never actually receive. That is why this is a really important change. We are removing that difficulty and worry by not assessing the child maintenance payment at all. In some cases, people will receive a higher payment as a result of this measure. In other cases, it will mean that people will now qualify for a payment for the first time. We estimate that this measure will be of direct benefit to approximately 16,000 lone parents at a cost of some €10 million per annum.

The Government also accepted the group’s third recommendation, which was that the liable relative provisions should be removed from the social welfare code. Where a person is in receipt of the one-parent family payment, the liable relative provisions provide the Department of Social Protection with a legislative basis to assess the child’s other parent. The Department can then issue a determination order for that other parent to pay a contribution towards the costs of the scheme. I should clarify that under the liable relative provisions, the Department is not arranging maintenance but ensuring, where possible, that where there is a one-parent family payment in place, the other parent makes a financial contribution towards the cost to the State of providing that support. These provisions are being revoked by this Bill. This means that the Department will no longer seek to recoup a portion of claim costs from the non-resident parent in these cases. On an administrative basis, the liable relative provisions have not been applied to new claims for one-parent family payment since the Government decided to revoke the provisions in late 2022. In 2022, cash receipts to the Department as a result of activity carried out under the liable relative provisions amounted to less than €400,000. That is in the context of expenditure on the one-parent family payment of approximately €614 million in that year. Parents have obligations under family law with regard to the maintenance of their children. Nothing in this Bill cuts across those obligations in any way. It is important to stress that.

The child maintenance review group was also tasked with considering issues with regard to the establishment of a child maintenance agency. The group considered and discussed that issue at great length. The submissions to the consultation process and the position in some other countries were also examined in detail. In the end, there was no consensus among the group with regard to the establishment of a child maintenance agency. This matter falls under the remit of the Department of Justice. It is not within the scope of this Bill.

The Minister for Justice is bringing forward a number of measures to reform the family law system in respect of child maintenance. A recent report, Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders, set out 26 recommendations. One of these is the establishment of a group to devise a set of child maintenance guidelines for the courts. Such guidelines will be hugely beneficial by removing some of the uncertainty attached to the process of obtaining or making a child maintenance payment. Taken together, the changes to the social welfare system and the family law system represent significant improvements for lone parents and their children.

The third aspect of this Bill relates to the supports provided to newly arrived beneficiaries of temporary protection who are resident in designated accommodation centres. The changes we are bringing in with this Bill will more closely align us with other EU member states. We will of course continue to meet Ireland’s obligations under the temporary protection directive. As a result of these new arrangements, newly arrived beneficiaries of the directive who are living in designated accommodation centres will receive a new weekly payment of €38.80 in line with the daily expenses allowance paid to people in direct provision. This payment will be administered by the Department of Social Protection on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Integration, Disability and Youth.

As I mentioned earlier, the Bill is in three Parts. Part 1 sets out the preliminary and general provisions and encompasses sections 1 and 2. Part 2 provides for the removal of the liable relative provisions from the social welfare legislation. It also sets out the provisions required to change the social welfare means test such that child maintenance will no longer be assessed as means. It encompasses sections 3 to 8, inclusive. Part 3 sets out the provisions with regard to the supports for beneficiaries of temporary protection in sections 9 and 10.

I will now outline the provisions of the Bill section by section.

Section 1 provides for the Short Title, construction, and commencement.

Section 2 provides for the definition of relevant Acts that are referred to in the Bill. It defines “Minister” as the “Minister for Social Protection”. The “Principal Act” is defined as the “Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005”.

Section 3 provides for the definition of the “Act of 2015” for the purposes of Part 2 of the Bill. The “Act of 2015” is defined as the “Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015”.

Section 4 amends the definition of “social welfare inspector” and the interpretation of “liable relative” to remove references to Part 12 of the Act. Part 12 sets out the "Liability to Maintain Family" provisions and is being repealed under section 7 of this Bill.

Section 5 removes a reference to Part 12 of the Act from the provisions relating to the role and duties of a social welfare inspector as set out in section 250 of the Act. Part 12 sets out the "Liability to Maintain Family" provisions and is being repealed under section 7 of this Bill. As a result of these provisions in sections 4 and 5, a social welfare inspector will no longer have any role regarding liable relatives.

Section 6 removes a reference to Part 12 of the Act from the provisions setting out the role and duties of deciding officers. As a result, deciding officers in the Department of Social Protection will have no role regarding liable relatives. Part 12 sets out the "Liability to Maintain Family" provisions and is being repealed under section 7 of this Bill.

Section 7 is a substantial amendment that repeals Part 12 of the Act, which sets out the “Liability to Maintain Family” provisions.As a result, my Department will no longer seek to recoup a contribution from the other payment where a one-parent family payment is in place.

Section 8 provides for a number of amendments to ensure child maintenance payments are not assessed in the means tests for various social welfare schemes. The section inserts a new term “maintenance payment made to or in respect of a qualified child” into the Act and defines this to mean “any maintenance payment made to or in respect of a qualified child that may be prescribed”. Section 8 also provides for consequential amendments to the rules governing the calculation of means as set out in Schedule 3 to the Act such that child maintenance payments will no longer be assessed in the means tests for social assistance payments. This applies to a range of schemes such as jobseeker’s allowance, non-contributory pensions and, importantly, one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s transitional payment. Section 8 also defines the “Act of 2022” as the “Social Welfare Act 2022".

Section 9 amends the Social Welfare Acts to provide for changes in the support provided to beneficiaries of temporary protection who are resident in designated accommodation centres.

Can the Acting Chairperson indulge me for a few more minutes?