Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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593. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to a charity's (details supplied) proposal in its 2018 pre budget submission to make child benefit payable to families with children over 18 years of age and still at secondary school; the cost of implementing such measure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31142/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to around 626,525 families in respect of over 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure of over €2 billion in 2017.

Budget 2009 reduced the age for eligibility for Child Benefit from 19 years to less than 18 years. A value for money review of child income supports, published by the Department of Social Protection in 2010, found that the participation pattern of children in education supports the current age limit for Child Benefit.

It is not possible to give the full year estimated cost of making Child Benefit payable to families with children over 18 years of age and still at secondary school as according to data from the Department of Education and Skills there are people still attending second level institutions up to 21 years and over.

Families on low incomes can already avail of a number of provisions to social welfare schemes that support children in full-time education until the age of 22 years, including:

- qualified child increases (IQCs) with primary social welfare payments;

- family income supplement (FIS) for low-paid employees with children;

- the back to school clothing and footwear allowance for low income families (paid at the full-time second level education rate).

These schemes provide targeted assistance that is directly linked with household income and thereby support low-income families with older children participating in full-time education.

Given the universal nature of Child Benefit making Child Benefit payable to families with children over 18 years of age and still in secondary school would not be a targeted approach. Any decision to would have to be considered in the overall budgetary and policy context. In this regard, my Department is hosting its annual pre-Budget Forum in Dublin Castle on 21 July, where I will listen to the views of representatives from circa 45 NGOs, advocacy and representative organisations, including the organisation referenced by the Deputy.