Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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287. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the qualifying period for lump sums (details supplied). [14453/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Last month, the Government announced a €1.2 billion package of measures to assist people with the cost of living. This package includes a range of measures, amounting to €470 million, to help social protection recipients from April to July. One of these measures is a €200 lump sum to be paid to all long-term social welfare recipients in April.

The Deputy is asking about the circumstances in which a person in receipt of the Back to Work Family Dividend will qualify for this €200 payment and, in particular, whether people must have been in receipt of the payment for a particular length of time in order to qualify.

Back to Work Family Dividend is a weekly payment to help people with children move from social welfare into work. It gives financial support to people with qualified children who are in or take up employment or self-employment and stop claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, Jobseeker's Benefit, Jobseeker's Benefit for the Self-Employed, One-Parent Family Payment or Jobseeker's Transitional Payment.

The €200 payment will be made in the week beginning 17 April and it will issue to all recipients of the Back to Work Family Dividend in payment that week. This applies regardless of the length of time for which they have been in receipt of the payment because in order to qualify for Back to Work Family Dividend a person will already been in receipt of a long term payment. However, where a person is also in receipt of another payment, such as Working Family Payment, which also attracts the €200 payment, they will receive the €200 payment in respect of one scheme but not both.

Recipients of the Back to Work Family Dividend who have a child or children in respect of whom Child Benefit is payable will also qualify for the lump sum Child Benefit payment of €100 in respect of each such child in June.

I trust this clarifies the position.