Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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596. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her Department examined a charity's (details supplied) proposal in their 2018 pre-budget submission to allow lone parents in employment with children between seven and 14 years of age to receive both jobseeker's transition payment and family income supplement if they meet qualifying criteria; the cost of implementing such a proposal; the changes required; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31148/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Any decision to allow lone parents in employment with children between 7 and 14 years of age to receive both the jobseeker’s transitional payment (JST) and the Family Income Supplement (FIS) concurrently would have to be considered in the overall budgetary and policy context and would require Government approval.

In this regard, my Department is hosting its annual pre-Budget forum in Dublin Castle on 21 July 2017, where I will listen to the views of representatives from circa 45 NGOs, advocacy and representative organisations, including the organisation referenced by the Deputy. My Department receives a wide range of pre-Budget submissions in advance of this forum, each of which is considered as part of any Budget discussions.

In relation to cost of allowing the concurrent payment of JST and FIS to lone parents while it is a condition of the JST scheme that recipients must continue to parent alone, this is not a qualifying condition of 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 satisfy the eligibility criteria to qualify for a JST payment. It is therefore not possible to provide an accurate costing of the cost of this proposed measure.