Written answers

Wednesday, 2 April 2008

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Social Welfare Code

9:00 pm

Photo of Emmet StaggEmmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the plans he has to improve the income disregard available to claimants on jobseeker's allowance to bring it in line with the proposals for the parental payment contained in Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents. [12193/08]

Photo of Martin CullenMartin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government Discussion Paper on Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents put forward a proposal to introduce a new scheme, Parental Allowance, for all low income families with young children. It was envisaged that those in receipt of Parental Allowance would be able to earn up to €120 per week without affecting their payment and that 40% of the remainder would be assessed as means. It was also proposed that the entitlement to the new payment would continue up to an upper earnings threshold of €400 per week.

Prior to September 2007, the earnings disregards which applied to Jobseeker's Allowance were as follows:

Where a person had one or more qualified child dependant(s) and was working part of the week while claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, means were assessed as 60% of the average net weekly earnings.

Where a person had no qualified child dependants, €12.70 earnings for each day worked was disregarded from the average net weekly earnings, and 60% of the balance assessed against the weekly rate of Jobseeker's Allowance.

With effect from the end of September 2007, €20 earnings for each day worked, up to a maximum of €60 per week, are disregarded from the average net weekly earnings. These new arrangements replaced the previous arrangements including the distinction between persons with and without qualified children. There is no upper income threshold for entitlement. As a result of these changes, the position of all part-time workers in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance was significantly enhanced.

Any further improvement in the means testing arrangements for Jobseeker's Allowance would have to be considered in a Budgetary context.

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