Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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120. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will outline the supports for families in Budget 2023; the impact that the changes she is making will have in respect of the treatment of child maintenance payments and working family payment thresholds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59228/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I announced on Budget Day that the Government will spend €2.2 billion on Social Protection measures, including over €880 million in order to provide for a €12 increase to the weekly rate of social welfare payments from January 2023.

Cost of living family supports include: an October cost-of-living double payment, and again in December via the payment of the Christmas Bonus. In November, a double Child Benefit payment was made. Households in receipt of the Fuel Allowance have received a €400 lump sum, and people in receipt of the Working Family Payment received a lump sum of €500. All households will also benefit from €600 of Energy Credits in the coming months.

In Budget 2023, the Qualified Child rates will increase by €2 – to €42 per child for those aged under 12, and to €50 per week for those aged 12 and over. Over the last three Budgets, these rates have increased by €6 and €10 per week respectively. For those in employment with children, the income threshold for the Working Family Payment is also increasing by €40 per week from January.

In 2020, the Government established a Child Maintenance Review Group to examine a number of issues regarding child maintenance in Ireland.

The Group submitted their Report to me for my consideration and, on Wednesday 16 November 2022, the Government published the Report and approved its response to the recommendations contained in it.

The Group recommended that:

- child maintenance should no longer be assessed as means or income for the purposes of any Department of Social Protection Social Assistance scheme. It should be disregarded in its entirety from all of the Department’s means assessments and income tests;

- the requirement to make efforts to seek maintenance as a condition for eligibility for One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment should be removed and should no longer apply to either scheme; and

- the provisions relating to the Liable Relative should be discontinued and should no longer apply.

On foot of the report, I am pleased to say that the Government has approved changes to implement the Group’s recommendations in respect of Child Maintenance within the Social Welfare system.

The decision to disregard Child Maintenance Payments from the Social Welfare means test will support lone parents and will mean that some parents currently on reduced rates of payment will see their payment increase.

I trust this clarifies the matter for deputy.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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121. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide an update on the cost-of-living supports that she has provided for in Budget 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59109/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In response to the ongoing cost of living pressures, I announced on Budget Day that my Department will spend approximately €1.2 billion on social welfare measures to help individuals and families through this difficult period.

These measures include an Autumn Double Payment, which was paid in mid-October to over 1.4 million people, including pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, lone parents, and jobseekers. The Department of Social Protection paid a total of €316 million in additional payments during this week.

This was followed by a double payment of Child Benefit on 1st November, which was paid in respect of 1.2 million children across the State. 638,000 families benefited from this double payment, at a cost of €170 million. Child Benefit is an extremely important support that reaches hundreds of thousands of hardworking families.

On the same date, the first of three €200 Electricity Credits was applied to household’s electricity accounts. Two further Electricity Credit payments of €200 each will be paid to all households next year, at a total cost of €1.3 billion. This will help protect households from the risk of energy poverty through the winter months and during ongoing uncertainty due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

During the week commencing 14th November, the Department paid a range of cost of living supports, which included:

- A €400 lump sum payment to over 370,000 households in receipt of Fuel Allowance;

- A €500 lump sum payment to 44,000 families receiving the Working Family Payment;

- A €500 Disability Support Grant to 216,000 recipients of Disability Allowance, Blind Pension and Invalidity Pension; and

- A €200 lump sum payment to the 234,000 recipients of the Living Alone Allowance.

In total, the Department paid an additional €325 million during this week in cost of living supports to over 865,000 people.

Last week, commencing 21st November, the Department paid a lump sum of €500 to over 114,000 carers, at a cost of €57.3 million.

In December, the Christmas Bonus double payment will be paid to pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, one-parent families, and other social protection recipients at a cost of €294 million.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.