Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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173. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the replacement of one-parent family allowance has adequately addressed the issues arising with particular reference to the need to maintain an adequate payment in the household; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29188/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department estimates spending €500 million on the one-parent family payment scheme in 2016. The scheme supports almost 40,800 lone parents and over 73,500 children. In addition to this, my Department estimates spending €177 million on the jobseeker’s transitional payment scheme in 2016. The scheme supports almost 15,000 lone parents. The aim of the reforms to the One-Parent Family Payment is to better engage with lone parents to assist in the transition from welfare into employment. Research shows that being at work reduces the at-risk-of-poverty rate for lone parents by three-quarters, highlighting that the best way to tackle poverty among lone parents is to assist them into employment.

Access to my Department’s Intreo service is critical in achieving this outcome. Lone parents who transition to jobseeker’s transition or jobseeker’s allowance have access to a Case Officer who assists them in producing a personal development plan. This tailored plan helps access appropriate education, training and employment support opportunities based on their individual circumstances and requirements.

The final phase of the one-parent family payment age reforms were introduced on 2 July, 2015 bringing maximum age of the youngest child for receipt of the one-parent family payment to 7 years for all recipients. Approximately 25,500 customers transitioned from the one-parent family payment scheme on that day. The majority of customers transitioned to the jobseeker’s transitional payment, the jobseeker’s allowance payment and the family income supplement.

I acknowledge that this did result in a reduction in payments for some lone parents, who were working while receiving benefits.

On foot of the measures for lone parents contained in Budget 2016, a lone parent on the jobseeker’s transitional payment working 15 hours at the national minimum wage saw an increase in their overall income of just over €28 per week (or over €1,450 per annum) from approximately €306 in 2015 to €334 in 2016. This is as a result of the budget measures and the increase in the national minimum wage.

My Department’s social impact assessment of Budget 2016 found that employed lone parents experienced an increase of 2% in their household income while unemployed lone parents experienced an increase of 1.8%. The cumulative impact of Budgets 2015 and 2016 also shows that budgetary policy increased the average household income of employed lone parents by 2.8%. This compares favourably to an average household increase of 2%.

The latest Quarterly National Household Survey for quarter 2 2016 contains information in respect of employment rates by family composition. In the year to the end of June 2016, the number of lone parent families who were in employment increased significantly by 3.6 percentage points to 56.4%. This represents four times the increase of all adults with children in employment over the same period. Interestingly lone parents whose youngest child is aged between 6 and 11 years of age experienced the single largest increase in employment. Over the year the percentage of these lone parents in employment increased by 7.5 percentage points to 57.2%.

The magnitude of the increase for lone parents specifically, many of whom would have been affected last in July 2015 by the reforms, is clearly significant and cannot be dismissed.