Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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98. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of one parent family payment plus a half rate carer's allowance who will be impacted by the lowering of the qualifying age of a child scheduled to take effect in July 2015; and the amount of the weekly reduction from social welfare that they will experience as a consequence. [2938/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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When introducing the OFP scheme age change reforms, a special provision was included for recipients who are claiming the domiciliary care allowance (DCA) payment for a disabled child aged under 16 years.

In these circumstances, the OFP payment is extended beyond the maximum age limit of the scheme and paid until the child for whom the DCA is in payment reaches the age of 16 years. This special provision ensures that OFP recipients who care for a disabled child will continue to receive support until that child reaches the age of 16 years and can apply for the disability allowance (DA) in their own right.

As a result of this special provision, 1,650 lone parents will continue to receive the OFP payment and will not be affected by the OFP scheme age change reforms on 2 July, 2015. Many of these individuals will also be in receipt of a half-rate carer’s allowance. It should be noted that the half-rate carer’s allowance is only payable for children aged under 16 years where the DCA is also in payment.

Approximately 800 other customers who are claiming both the OFP and half-rate carer’s allowance payments are caring for another person (i.e. an adult or a child aged 16 years or over) and, as such, are not in receipt of the DCA payment. These customers will transition out of the OFP scheme on 2 July, 2015, and will have their carer’s allowance claim automatically assessed and re-rated to a full-rate carer’s allowance payment of €204 per week and €29.80 per week for each qualified child.

This results in an income loss of €86 per week as these lone parents are moving from one-and-a-half payments to a single full-rate carer’s allowance payment. This is the most advantageous option that is available to these lone parents. These individuals will retain their existing secondary benefits such as the respite care grant, the household benefit package and free travel.

Historically, the transition of recipients from the OFP scheme to the carer’s allowance scheme has always occurred in this manner, with concurrent OFP and half-rate carer’s allowance entitlement being replaced with full-rate carer’s allowance entitlement once the maximum age limit of the youngest child is reached.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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99. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of one parent family payment who will be impacted by the lowering of the qualifying age of a child scheduled to take effect in July 2015; and if she will provide a breakdown of the amount of weekly reduction from social welfare that they will experience depending on which payment they transfer onto. [2939/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The number of one-parent family payment (OFP) recipients stood at 69,884 in December, 2014. The cost of the OFP scheme is estimated to be approximately €607 million in 2015.

The final phase of the OFP scheme age change reforms will be taking place on 2 July, 2015, when the maximum age limit of the youngest child at which an OFP recipient’s payment ceases will be reduced to 7 years for all recipients. It is anticipated that approximately 30,200 OFP recipients will transition out of the OFP scheme on that day.

The majority of affected lone parents are expected to transition to the jobseeker’s allowance (JA) payment including to the JA transitional arrangement, the family income supplement (FIS) or the carer’s allowance (CA) payment.

Some 19,800 OFP recipients, or approximately 65.6% of the total, are expected to transition to the JA payment, including the JA transitional arrangement. Of these:

- 13,400 have earnings of less than €60 per week and will incur no loss of income. These customers are not working and, as such, will not suffer any reduction in their new income support payment as the JA payment pays the same personal and qualified child rates as the OFP payment.

- 6,400 have earnings of between €60 and €200 per week and will lose between €1 and €36.50 per week.

Some 9,600 OFP recipients, or approximately 31.8% of the total, are expected to transition to the FIS scheme on 2 July, 2015. These customers will be entitled to avail of the back to work family dividend (BTWFD), which was announced in Budget 2015, and will include those who transition from both the OFP and FIS payments to a re-rated FIS payment only, as well as those who become new FIS recipients. These customers will be able to retain their increase for qualified child (IQC) payment of €29.80 per week per child (up to a maximum of €119.20 per week for four children) for two years, with full IQC entitlement for the first year and 50% entitlement for the second year. Of the aforementioned 9,600 OFP recipients:

- 4,500 customers whose FIS will be re-rated will lose between €0.50 and €57 per week;

- 1,000 customers whose FIS will be re-rated will gain between €2 and €42 per week, and

- 4,100 may become new FIS recipients and will gain between €20 and €160 per week. This assumes that customers earning over €200 per week will become new FIS recipients rather than moving to a JA payment.

These figures include the first year of the BTWFD payment.

Some 800 OFP recipients, or approximately 2.6% of the total, who are claiming both the OFP and half-rate CA payments, will have their CA claim automatically assessed and re-rated to a full-rate CA payment of €204 per week, plus an IQC of €29.80 per week per child, on 2 July, 2015. These customers will lose €86 per week when their OFP entitlement ceases. This loss occurs as these lone parents are moving from one-and-a-half payments to a single full-rate CA payment. This is the most advantageous option that is available to these lone parents and, also, they will retain their entitlement to existing secondary benefits such as the respite care grant, the household benefits package and free travel. Historically, the transition of recipients from the OFP scheme to the CA scheme has always occurred in this manner, with concurrent OFP and half-rate CA entitlement being replaced with full-rate CA entitlement once the maximum age limit of the youngest child is reached.

The figures outlined above are estimates based on various customer scenarios and are for indicative purposes only.