Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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974. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost of extending eligibility for the working family payment to self-employed persons who meet the current qualifying criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19326/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Working Family Payment (WFP) 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 dependents, and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment.  There are approximately 47,000 families with 103,000 children who are currently in receipt of the WFP.  The estimated spend on the WFP in 2022 is €349 million.

To qualify for payment of WFP a person must be engaged as an employee in full time paid employment which is expected to last for at least 3 months and be working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight or 19 hours per week.  A couple may combine their hours of employment to meet the qualification criteria.  The applicant must also have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them or is part of a family supported by them. 

It is possible for the household of a self-employed person to receive a WFP payment where the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the self-employed persons meets the qualifying criteria. 

My Department has several schemes available to self-employed individuals including:

- The Back to Work Family Dividend - which helps families to move from social welfare into employment, including self-employment, by retaining their qualified child increase for up to two years.  There are currently 2,678 families in receipt of the dividend. 

- The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme encourages people in receipt of certain social welfare payments to become self-employed.  If you take part in the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme you can keep a percentage of your social welfare payment for up to 2 years. 

- The Short-Term Enterprise Allowance gives support to people who have lost their job and want to start their own business.

It is not possible to estimate the cost of extending eligibility for WFP to the self-employed as there is no estimate of the number of self-employed persons who would might qualify.  There are no plans to extend the WFP to the self-employed at this time.  Any extension of the WFP to other categories of persons, such as the self-employed, would have to be considered in a budgetary context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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975. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she plans to extend the living alone allowance to persons who are not in receipt of a social welfare payment. [19334/22]

Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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979. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the living alone allowance will be changed to a stand-alone payment for persons over the age of 66 years who are currently living alone in the State but who are not in receipt of one of the required qualifying social welfare payments to claim the payment; her plans to expand the scheme to this cohort considering the significant increase in the cost of living as part of her Department’s budget in 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19435/22]

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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1024. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to include those without a primary qualifying payment from her Department to avail of the living alone allowance in the context of rising inflation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20023/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 975, 979 and 1024 together.

Primary weekly social welfare payments are intended to enable recipients to meet their basic day-to-day income needs.  In addition to these primary payments, my Department also provides a range of other payments, both cash and non-cash, on a weekly, monthly, or less frequent basis.  These payments are considered secondary in nature. 

The Living Alone Increase (LAI) is one of those secondary payments.  It is not a scheme or a stand-alone payment in itself, but rather it is a supplement to a primary social protection payment of €22 per week made to people aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are living alone.  For those aged 66 or over, these payments include State Pension (Contributory), State Pension (Non-contributory), Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Contributory) Pension, Widow's/Widower's Pension under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme, Incapacity Supplement under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme and Deserted Wife's Benefit.  

Accordingly, there are no circumstances where the Living Alone Increase can be paid to people who are not in receipt of a primary qualifying payment from my Department.  Any decision to allow those who are not in receipt of a qualifying payment to receive the Living Alone Increase - and thereby establish it as a scheme - would have budgetary and administrative consequences and would have to be considered in the context of Budget negotiations.  

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputies. 

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.

Means are any income belonging to the carer and their spouse, civil partner, or cohabitant and includes earnings, property, (except their own home) or an asset that could bring in money or provide them with an income, for example occupational pensions, or pensions or benefits from another country.  Means tested payments are subject to periodic means reviews.  

The person concerned was assessed with means of €134.94 per week, following a recent review of their entitlement, which is derived from her spouse’s employment income and income from farming.  The rate of payment for the person concerned is €96.50 effective from 7 April 2022.  The person concerned was notified of the decision on 23 March 2022, the reason for it and of her right of review and appeal.

As part of Budget 2022, improvements were introduced to the income and capital limits for the CA means assessment, effective from June 2022.  These measures, which will take effect from June 2022, include an increase in the income disregard from €332.50 to €350 for a single person and from €665 to €750 for a couple.  In addition, the amount of capital disregarded in the means test will be increased from €20,000 to €50,000.

The person concerned will be entitled to an increase in their rate of payment, arising from the budget changes, and this will be automatically paid with effect from 2nd June 2022.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.