Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 168: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her plans to increase child specific welfare payments to reflect the higher cost to low income families of raising teenagers. [34875/08]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 181: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the rationale for the rate of qualified child allowance; and the changes she will make to the rate to reflect different costs associated with children of different ages. [34887/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 181 together.

Among the main objectives of the Department's policies on child income support is the alleviation of poverty in families with children and the facilitation and encouragement of employment by parents, as it is recognised that employment by a parent is the best route out of poverty. The main policy instruments for child income support are child benefit, increases in weekly social welfare payments for qualified children (IQCs), family income supplement (FIS) and the back to school clothing and footwear allowance.

Significant progress has been achieved over the past decade in reducing poverty among children. The Government is determined to continue this work, as evidenced in last week's Budget which provided for a range of measures costing over €56 million to benefit children and families. These measures include an increase of €2 in the IQCs, bringing them up to €26 per week from January 2009; all FIS income thresholds to increase by €10 per week per child, giving an increase of up to €6 per week per child from January 2009; and the income threshold for the back to school clothing and footwear scheme to increase by €50 per week from €100 to €150 to allow more families to qualify. At a time when it is essential that public expenditure be strictly controlled in the national interest, this increased provision for children and families is an unambiguous statement of the Government's intent to protect the vulnerable and less well-off in society.

A consistent finding in recent studies on poverty and social inclusion in Ireland is that larger families face a higher risk of poverty. In order to address this problem a number of the child income support payments provide higher support to larger families. For instance, child benefit is structured so as to target additional resources at larger families by providing a higher rate of child benefit for the third and subsequent qualified children. The FIS income thresholds were refocused in 2006 and 2007 to concentrate additional resources on larger families, with increases ranging from €9 for a one child family to €111 for a family with 8 or more children provided in 2007.

Age differentiated support is provided through the back to school clothing and footwear allowance and the early childcare supplement. For instance, the back to school clothing and footwear allowance is a targeted payment designed to help people on low incomes with the cost of children's school clothing and footwear. In recognition of the higher clothing costs incurred by older children, this allowance is paid at a higher rate (€305) for children between 12 and 22 years. An early childcare supplement of €1,100 a year is also paid to help parents of young children to meet their childcare needs.

In addition to the above mentioned supports, most weekly social welfare payments include an increase for qualified children in respect of each qualified child up to age 18, and in certain circumstances, for children up to 22 years who are school/college going. However, it is recognised that the loss of the IQC by social welfare recipients on taking up employment can act as a disincentive to taking up available work opportunities. As a consequence, the policy direction followed by successive Governments in recent years has focused on the objective of reforming income support for children in order to reduce work disincentives by making child income support more neutral vis-À-vis the employment status of the parent. In this regard, child benefit rates have been increased substantially as a result of this policy focus with a view to facilitating a greater level of choice with regard to economic participation, particularly by women, with female participation rates in the workforce having increases significantly.

Nevertheless, the introduction of the national minimum wage, together with the improvements in the FIS scheme in recent years, including the re-focusing of the FIS income thresholds on larger families, have further reduced the impact of the loss of IQCs in the decision to take up full-time employment. In view of these changed circumstances, the three separate rates of IQC payment which applied up to 2006 were consolidated into a single higher rate of payment. This payment will be increased further from €24 to €26 a week from January, 2009.

The Government has decided that Child Benefit will no longer be paid in respect of those who are 18 years old. At that stage, they are effectively treated as adults in most respects. This change will be phased in gradually. A half payment will be made in respect of existing and future qualifying children from January 2009 and from January 2010 the payment will cease from the 18 birthday.

Special alleviating measures are being introduced for social welfare dependent families. A special increase of €15 per week will be paid with qualified child increases payment for those aged 18. It is expected that some 10,000 families will benefit from this measure. In addition, the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance will be increased by €215 to €520 per annum for eligible 18 year olds and recipients of Family Income Supplement will receive additional payments of up to €15 per week for each dependent aged 18 where they are not otherwise being compensated.

Further improvements in level and structure of the child income support will be considered in the light of available resources and having regard to other priorities.