Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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162. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the implications of cuts to the one-parent payment for persons (details supplied); her plans to address this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23166/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Expenditure on the one parent family payment (OFP) scheme is estimated to be €607 million in 2015 with almost 70,000 recipients.

However, despite considerable investment, the scheme has not succeeded in preventing lone parents from being significantly more at risk of consistent poverty than the population as a whole.

The reforms seek to address the long-term social welfare dependency and poverty experienced by many lone parents by providing them with improved access to the Department’s range of education, training, and employment supports. Access to these services and supports is imperative for lone parents, in order to ensure that their prospects of securing employment and financial independence are improved.

Family income supplement is financially the best option available to lone parents who may suffer a financial loss as a result of the reforms. Lone parents who transition to family income supplement will be eligible to qualify for the new back to work family dividend and as such will be able to retain the child proportion of their welfare payment for one year after transitioning from one-parent family payment and half that amount in the second year. For each child (subject to a maximum of four children) this equates to an additional payment of €1,550 per annum in the first year and €775 in the second year.

In order to claim family income supplement, a person must be working a minimum of 19 hours a week or 38 hours a fortnight. In the case you have outlined this customer is working 30 hours per week and may qualify for FIS subject to the normal conditions of the scheme. She may then also qualify for the back to work family dividend. I would advise that this customer should contact her local Intreo Centre/Social Welfare Office to discuss her options.