Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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28. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will review the 52-week basis of family income supplement allocation as it does not take into account changes in a person's working circumstances within the 52 weeks. [28736/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. FIS is designed to tackle child and family poverty and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment as compared to social welfare payments. There are over 55,000 families with almost 123,000 children in receipt of FIS. The estimated spend on FIS this year is approximately €410 million, an increase of around €60 million on last year.

An integral part of FIS is that the payment continues at the same rate for a period of 52 weeks, assuming the eligibility requirements continue to be met, except in the following circumstances:

- If a claimant starts to care for an additional child in the course of the 52 weeks.

- If a claimant was getting a one-parent family payment and this payment was stopped because their youngest child reached the relevant age limit.

The rate of payment will not change if there is an increase or decrease in earnings. This aspect of the FIS scheme is important in speeding up processing times for claims, which could otherwise be subject to delays due to periodic reviews. It also ensures that people who transition from welfare into employment have quick access to an in work benefit, which could be an important factor in their decision to take up employment.

However, the key advantage of this approach, which is unique to the FIS scheme, is that claimants will receive a guaranteed level of income support throughout the period. This certainty is important to the success of the scheme as it provides an incentive to claimants to maximise their earnings from employment (e.g. more hours, higher wages). In view of the above, I have no plans to change the legislation.