Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

43. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of one-parent family payments who are subjected to low-hour contracts and are therefore not in a position to increase their hours to avail of family income supplement; the average income loss to workers in this category from transferring to the jobseeker's allowance transitional payment; the number of lone parents who will be forced to give up employment to get a full jobseeker's allowance payment, as they will not be able to work on low-hour contracts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17335/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department does not capture details of the employment contracts for recipients of social welfare payments, including one-parent family payment (OFP) recipients, and as such I am unable to provide the Deputy with the data requested for OFP recipients who are in low hour contracts.

For customers working less than 19 hours per week who are affected by the OFP reforms, the best option available financially is to increase their working hours to 19 per week and apply for the family income supplement (FIS). The additional hours worked can be from more than one employer. These customers will then also be eligible for the back to work family dividend (BTWFD) which is worth €1,550 per child in the first year and €775 per child in the second year.

While it is not possible to anticipate the numbers of OFP recipients who will be unable to increase their hours to avail of FIS, there has been an increase in new applicants for FIS since 2013 when the OFP reforms commenced. This indicates that lone parents currently working less than 19 hours per week are increasing their hours and becoming new FIS recipients.

Where a customer cannot increase their hours to claim FIS, they have access to the jobseeker's allowance transitional arrangement until their youngest child reaches 14 years of age. This arrangement allows these customers to work part-time without restriction and receive an income support payment – subject to the means test. If the customer's youngest child is 14 or over they may still qualify for a jobseeker's allowance payment.