Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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118. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her advice on a matter (details supplied) in relation to extending the working family payment for single parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10310/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased that Budget 2023 includes a social welfare package of almost €2.2 billion. This extensive package includes measures in relation to the Working Family Payment.

The Working Family Payment 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 48,000 families with 104,000 children who are currently in receipt of the payment. The estimated expenditure on the scheme in 2023 is €362 million.

To qualify for the Working Family Payment 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. The applicant must also have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them or is part of a family supported by them.

The Budget package included a range of measures to assist people with the cost of living. This included a once-off payment of €500 to recipients of the Working Family Payment. This payment was made in November 2022 at an estimated cost of €23 million. People in receipt of Child Benefit also received a double payment in respect of each child in November. This measure benefitted approximately 638,000 recipients in respect of over 1.2 million children at an estimated cost of over €170million.

In addition, I also provided for a €40 per week increase in the Working Family Payment thresholds for all family sizes. This is the highest ever increase in the Working Family Payment thresholds. This will ensure that families on low incomes will receive more weekly income from the scheme - up to €24 per week. It will also ensure that the increase of 80 cent per hour in the National Minimum Wage does not negatively impact on people's income from the Working Family Payment. It also means that more people will qualify for the payment. This measure took effect from January at a cost of approximately €16.8 million in 2023.

Just last week, a further €470 million package of measures to further assist people in receipt of payments from my Department was announced. The package includes a €200 lump sum to be paid to families in receipt of Working Family Payment in April and an additional €100 Child Benefit Payment in respect of each child.

For a person in receipt of Working Family Payment with two children these one-off cost of living measures amount to €1,180 between November and June. This is in addition to an increase in their weekly rate of Working Family Payment as a result of the increase in the thresholds from January.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.