Written answers

Tuesday, 23 November 2021

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Social Welfare Benefits

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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425. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the means testing requirement to qualify for the one-parent family payment; if exceptions are made for household income such as savings which are intended for the purpose of supporting children such as purchasing a home or paying for college costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57154/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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One-Parent Family Payment is a means tested payment for people who are parenting alone and who have at least one child under age 7. The personal rate of payment that a person receives depends the level of their weekly means as assessed in the means test. Means include both capital and cash income. There are different disregards for certain types of means and across different schemes.

Capital includes all savings and investments, and the value of property owned but not personally used or enjoyed. Where capital or property is assessed on this basis, any income received from its use (such as interest on savings, dividends from shares, rent from property let) is not assessed as cash income.

In calculating the weekly value of a person’s capital, the first €20,000 is assessed as nil. Amounts between €10,000 and €20,000 are assessed at €1 per €1,000. Amounts between €20,000 and €30,000 are assessed at €2 per €1,000 and amounts over €40,000 are assessed at €4 per €1,000.

Cash income can include wages from employment or self-employment, or rental income. In assessing income from the insurable employment for the purposes of the One-Parent Family Payment or Jobseeker's Transitional payment, items such as PRSI contributions and pension contributions are deducted from gross earnings. Thereafter, the first €165 per week of earnings from insurable employment is disregarded and half of the balance is assessed as means.

Where a person is in receipt of maintenance payments, half of the amount received is assessed as means. In addition, there is a housing disregard of €95.23 per week. Where that is applicable, €95.23 is subtracted from the maintenance payment received and then half of the balance is assessed.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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