Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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241. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when the child care supports will be put in place to ensure that those receiving payment under the one-parent family payment can avail of returning to employment or education, as promised by her on 18 April 2012; if she will honour her commitment to those persons, who feel that their family status is discriminated against, in particular those lone parents who are employed part-time or in low paid employment, who are self-employed, and who are in education; how persons in these categories, who receive family income supplement, can increase their income by increasing their hours to 19, as outlined by her, taking into consideration that lone parents who already work 19 hours will be cut, and given that many lone parents are restricted by low hour contracts, where employers refuse to sign family income supplement forms guaranteeing hours; and where there are increased childcare costs if hours are increased, and there is a loss to those in receipt of rent supplement and housing assistance payments of up to 75% of any increase, which does not cover the additional cost of working; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22056/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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With regards to child care, the delivery and expansion of child care services is the responsibility of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. My Department in conjunction with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs introduced a range of child care measures in Budget 2013 and Budget 2014 to assist lone parents to enter, or to re-join the workforce, namely the after-school child care scheme and the community employment childcare programme. These initiatives build on the existing supports that are provided for, and implemented by, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in the child care sector, through which child care is provided to some 25,000 children of low-income parents at reduced rates.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has established an interdepartmental group to carry out an economic and cost-benefit analysis of policies and future options for increasing the supply, accessibility, and affordability of quality child care. It is intended that the group will finalise its work in the summer of 2015.

I am conscious that some lone parents are currently working under 19 hours a week and will suffer a loss when their one-parent family payment ends. My Department is informing customers that their best option is to increase their hours to 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight and claim the family income supplement and the back to work family dividend.

On that basis, it is vitally important that employers nationwide can assist transitioning one-parent family payment customers to increase their hours of work to 19 hours a week in order to enable them to qualify for the family income supplement payment and, therefore ensuring that they are eligible for the back to work family dividend. This will result an increase in overall income for these customers when their entitlement to one-parent family payment ends.

The Labour Market Council has established a sub-Group that is specifically examining the issue of how employers nationwide can assist affected lone parents increase their hours of work in order to enable them to qualify for the family income supplement payment and, subsequently, for the back to work family dividend.

With regard to lone parents in education, procedures have been agreed to ensure that all one-parent family payment recipients who are participating in training or education when their entitlement to the one-parent family payment ends will be able to complete their course with income support, subject to normal scheme conditions.

For one-parent family payment recipients who are currently in education and, who were scheduled to exit one-parent family payment up to and including 2 July 2015, they can remain on one-parent family payment until their course finishes and then transition to either jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's transitional payment as appropriate. In some cases progression to a new course will be considered as part of this arrangement and so customers should discuss their options with their local Intreo Centre/Social Welfare Office.

One-parent family payment recipients who are undertaking courses that are eligible for a SUSI maintenance grant from the Department of Education and Skills can retain this grant until they complete their current course, subject to the normal Department of Education and Skills conditions for the grant. The maintenance grant will continue to be disregarded for means on one-parent family payment.

After 2 July 2015 the age for receipt of one-parent family payment will be 7 years and so the majority of customers will transition to the jobseeker's transitional payment when their one-parent family payment ends. This allows lone parents who are mid-course from 2 July 2015 onwards up to 7 years to complete their course of education. The jobseeker's transitional payment has always allowed customers to study full-time and receive a SUSI grant. The maintenance grant will be disregarded when calculating means for these recipients.

Rent supplement is calculated to ensure that the person, after payment of rent, has an income equal to the basic supplementary welfare allowance rate, less a specified weekly minimum contribution which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. The weekly minimum contribution is €30 for a single adult household and €40 for coupled households. Many recipients pay more than this amount because recipients are also required, subject to income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate supplementary welfare allowance rate towards their accommodation costs.

The rent supplement assessment provides for a gradual withdrawal of payment as hours of employment or earnings increase. Where a person has additional income in excess of the standard weekly rate of supplementary welfare allowance, the first €75 of such additional income together with 25% of any additional income above €75 is disregarded for means assessment purposes.

The Department's strategic policy direction is to return rent supplement to its original purpose of being a short term income support by transferring responsibility for persons with long term housing needs to the local authorities under the new Housing Assistance Payment. Payments under the Housing Assistance Payment scheme will be based on the local authority differential rent means test under which the full-time employment restriction does not apply and therefore will remove a key barrier to persons on social welfare in getting back to work. Housing Assistance Payment is currently in operation in eight local authority areas in which there are approximately over 2,000 Housing Assistance Payment tenancies already in place. There is a target to achieve 8,400 Housing Assistance Payment cases in 2015 as set out in the 'Social Housing Strategy 2020: Support, Supply and Reform'.

Officials in my Department continue to work closely with those in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and housing authorities to ensure the success of the Housing Assistance Payment scheme.