Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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232. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which FIS or other support payments continue to be made available to families living on uneconomic holdings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2388/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The main support my Department offers to families living on uneconomic holdings is the farm assist scheme which provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. The farm assist scheme is a means tested payment and the means test is flexible so as to allow for significant income fluctuations from one year to the next. It may also be noted that farm assist customers continue to receive more beneficial treatment than other self-employed persons.

Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2018 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of approximately €74.1 million on the farm assist scheme.

Farm Assist recipients will benefit from the following measures which I provided for in Budget 2018; the €5 per week increase in the maximum weekly rates of payment, proportionate increases in weekly payments for qualified adults and a €2 per week increase for each qualified child. In addition, farm assist recipients are eligible to avail of the 250 additional places on the Rural Social Scheme which I announced as part of the Budget 2018 package.

The Working Family Payment (WFP), formerly known as Family Income Supplement, or FIS, is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings. The WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependants, and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment.

To qualify for payment of the WFP, a person must be engaged in insurable employment which is expected to last for at least three months and be working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight or 19 hours per week. Therefore, self-employed people are not eligible for the WFP. However, where the spouse/partner of the farmer is in insurable employment, they may qualify for WFP/FIS, subject to meeting the criteria outlined above.

Other support payments offered by my Department include the jobseeker's benefit (JB) and jobseeker’s allowance (JA) schemes which provide income support for people who have lost work and who are available for and genuinely seeking full-time employment. Jobseeker’s allowance is a means tested social assistance payment whereas jobseeker’s benefit is a contribution based insurance scheme.

To qualify for jobseeker’s benefit a person must be unemployed, be available for and genuinely seeking work, have had a substantial loss of employment and as a result be unemployed for at least 4 days out of 7. The jobseeker’s benefit scheme provides significant support to individuals who can work up to 3 days a week and receive a jobseeker’s payment.

I am satisfied that the combination of the jobseekers schemes, the working family payment and the farm assist scheme provide adequate income support options for families living on uneconomic holdings.