Written answers

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Department of Social Protection

One-Parent Family Payments

Photo of Michael Healy-RaeMichael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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60. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will reverse the decision whereby in July 2015 the lone parent's payment for children over seven years of age is to be removed. [9559/15]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Before I introduced the reforms, the One Parent Family Payment was a passive scheme with limited engagement by the State with recipients. For many lone parents, most of whom are women, this has meant long-term social welfare dependency, associated poverty and social exclusion for them and their families.

Social transfers have provided a hugely important buffer in reducing poverty. Expenditure on the scheme is estimated at €607million in 2015 with almost 70,000 recipients. However, lone parents remain particularly at risk of poverty.

This is why I believe that the reforms I have introduced are much needed. The best route out of poverty and social exclusion is through paid employment. I want to end the expectation that lone parents may remain outside of the workforce indefinitely. I want to support lone parents to develop their skills set and, ultimately to secure employment.

I have also made significant changes to the arrangements in place for affected customers as they transition. These include the introduction of the jobseeker’s allowance (JA) transitional arrangement which gives lone parents with young children the flexibility to work part time or engage in full time education, access to subsidised child care through the after school child care (ASCC) scheme and the community employment childcare (CEC) programme and the extension this week of OFP to all lone parents providing full-time care, until their youngest child is 16 years of age.

The introduction of the back to work family dividend (BTWFD) provides a further incentive for jobseekers and OFP recipients to avail of employment opportunities by allowing them to retain their increase for a qualified child payment when they leave income support for employment or self-employment. It is estimated that approximately 9,600 lone parents who transition from the OFP scheme and will transfer to the family income supplement (FIS) scheme and, as such, will qualify for the BTWFD.

There are no plans to change these reforms.

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