Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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204. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if it is fair that persons who have been forced to switch from a lone parent payment to a family income supplement due to age restriction, will not receive a Christmas bonus this year, as the family income supplement is not included in such payments. [37714/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I was pleased to announce on Budget Day the payment of a 75% Christmas Bonus to all the schemes which received it in previous years, with the addition this year of the Back to Work Family Dividend. The bonus will be paid in the first week of December to over 1.2 million long-term social welfare recipients, including recipients of one-parent family payment.

The Family Income Supplement scheme (FIS) has never been eligible for the bonus. However, lone parents who moved to FIS would have benefitted from receipt of the Back to Work Family Dividend, which is eligible for the bonus. In addition, all recipients of Jobseeker’s Transition will receive the bonus, which is worth €185.70 to an individual with two qualified children.

On Budget Day, I announced a social welfare Budget package for 2016 with four key aims:

- To increase supports for pensioners aged 66 and over;

- To strengthen supports for families with children;

- To increase the momentum to date in helping jobseekers back to work; and

- To provide targeted assistance for vulnerable groups.

In this regard, the income thresholds for the Family Income Supplement will be increased by €5 for families with one child and by €10 for families with two or more children. For a person in receipt of Family Income Supplement with two children, this will result in an increase in income of €6 per week, which, at €312 in a year, is worth more than the Christmas Bonus.

FIS recipients will also benefit from the increase in Child Benefit by €5, from €135 to €140 per month.

In addition, working lone parents in receipt of the Jobseeker’s Transitional payment will benefit from the changes to the means assessment, which increases the income disregard from €60 to €90 and reduces the taper from 60% to 50%.