Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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830. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason the freepost instruction was removed from social welfare child benefit review forms (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28077/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Child Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16 and 17, if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves.

In 2010, a decision was made to firstly reduce, then remove the issuing of return Freepost envelopes. Reference to FREEPOST services was removed from all communication templates. At the time, Child Benefit customers were communicated with, providing them with the option to write FREEPOST on envelopes.

A decision was made to no longer supply FREEPOST envelopes to the majority of Child Benefit customers in February 2018.

In cases where a customer writes freepost on an envelope, the Department will accept the charges associated with same and ensure the documents are directed to the appropriate scheme area within the Department. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.