John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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298. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the cost of allowing lone parents in employment whose children are between seven and 14 years of age to receive the jobseeker's transition payment and the family income supplement if they meet the qualifying criteria. [16999/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The jobseeker’s transitional payment (JST) is available to lone parents (both former one-parent family payment recipients and new lone parents), who have a youngest child aged 7 to 13 years inclusive. These customers are exempt from the jobseeker’s allowance conditions that require them to be available for, and genuinely seeking, full-time work.

While it is a condition of the JST scheme that recipients must continue to parent alone, this is not a qualifying condition of the family income supplement (FIS) and so this information is not maintained for FIS recipients. From the data currently available on household composition within the FIS scheme, it is not possible to determine which FIS recipients, who are also lone parents, would be eligible for JST, given the specific conditionality, which applies to the JST scheme.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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299. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the cost of making the jobseeker's transitional payment and the Student Universal Support Ireland grant payable to lone parents who are undertaking an educational or training course for the duration of the course regardless of the age of the youngest child in the family or whether the family is in receipt under the rent supplement scheme. [17000/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In order to provide the costings requested by the Deputy it would require my Department to anticipate the number of lone parents who intend to undertake a course of education where the course will continue beyond their youngest child reaching 14 years of age. My Department would not have access to these projections and therefore cannot provide these costings.

However, the Deputy should note that the current supports provided, outlined below, ensure that lone parents can complete a course of education with support from my Department regardless of the age of their youngest child.

Former one-parent family payment (OFP) recipients who transitioned from the scheme on 2 July 2015 and who were in the middle of a course of education were allowed to complete their course on OFP and then transition to an appropriate payment.

From 2 July 2015 onwards lone parents who transition to the jobseeker’s transitional payment (JST) have a youngest child of 7 years of age. These customers then have two options if they wish to complete a course of education while on JST. Where the course can be completed within the 7 years that they have access to JST (i.e. until their youngest child is 14 years of age), these customers can avail of the SUSI grant and a JST payment subject to the conditions of both schemes (eligibility for a SUSI grant is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills).

Where the course cannot be completed within the potentially 7 years available on JST, for example if the course is over 3 years and the youngest child is now 12, the customer can instead avail of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) when s/he commences the course. This allowance will continue to be paid, subject to the conditions of the BTEA scheme, until the course is completed even when the customer’s youngest child reaches 14 years of age.

All lone parents on a jobseeker’s allowance or JST payment have access to activation supports from my Department.

JST recipients receive for the first time a one to one meeting with a case officer from my Department who will assist them to produce a personal development plan and guide them towards appropriate education, training and employment opportunities. While the customer is on the JST payment this support is available and is not limited to the 12 month engagement that applies for other jobseekers from their one to one meeting.

Through the JST payment, lone parents with children aged between 7 and 13 years are provided with a very long transition period of seven years within which to engage with the Department’s Intreo service. The aim of this broader support is to improve the individual’s education and employment prospects.

With regard to rent supplement, in general, persons engaged in full-time education are excluded from receiving rent supplement. However, those participating in approved courses under the back-to-education allowance (BTEA) or the vocational training opportunities scheme (VTOS) may retain entitlement to rent supplement, subject to meeting all other conditions of the scheme.