Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Social assistance payments are means tested. The means assessment reflects the fact that there is an expectation that people with reasonable amounts of income or capital are in a position to use these resources to support themselves so that social welfare expenditure can be directed towards those who need it.

However, in recognition of the benefits that work can bring – both financially and socially – most schemes have an earnings disregard. This means that a recipient of a social assistance payment can have a certain amount of earnings and still retain a proportion of their social welfare payment. The amount of earnings disregarded, and how this income is assessed, depends on the scheme. As a person’s earnings increase above a certain point, their social welfare payment will decrease, meaning that in the vast majority of social welfare means tested schemes cliff-edges are avoided.

There have been a number of significant changes made in this area in recent years, including:

• Increasing Working Family Payment income thresholds for all families by a combined €94 per week across Budgets 2023 and 2024. This ensures that families will not lose this in-work payment as the National Minimum Wage increases, and allows more families to qualify for this tax-free payment;
• Providing for higher earnings disregards for Disability Allowance, Blind Pension and One-Parent Family;
• Removal of the weekly earnings limit of €425 for One-Parent Family Payment, ensuring that recipients of the scheme do not face a cliff-edge when their earnings reach €425 per week;
• Expanding the list of agri-environmental schemes that qualify for a disregard, which was increased in recent Budgets;
• In 2022, I significantly increased the income and capital disregards for Carer's Allowance. This enables more carers with modest incomes to become eligible for the scheme and allows carers and their families to earn more from employment while retaining their payment. As part of Budget 2024 I further increased the disregard to €450 for a single person, and €900 for couples from June of this year.

In addition to the Working Family Payment, there is also a range of supports available to people who move into employment/self-employment:

• Back to Work Family Dividend is a weekly payment to help people with qualified children who stop claiming jobseeker’s or one-parent payments to move into employment or self-employment. In the first year, the weekly payment is the equivalent of any Increase for Qualified Children that was being paid on their previous payment (up to a maximum of 4 children). Half that amount will be paid weekly for the second year.
• The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme which encourages people getting certain social welfare payments to become self-employed. Where a person takes part in the scheme, they can keep a percentage of their social welfare payment for up to two years.
• The Part-Time Job Incentive Scheme which allows certain people receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance to take up part-time work and get a special weekly allowance instead of their jobseeker’s payment. It is intended to be a stepping stone to full-time work.
• The Short-Term Enterprise Allowance gives support to people who have lost their job and want to start their own business. To qualify, a person must be getting Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Benefit Self-Employed. It can be paid for a maximum of 9 months.

Other related areas which the Department are currently working on include the introduction of a Pay-Related Benefit, which will more closely align earnings and unemployment benefits and mitigate the impact of any income shocks. In line with the commitment in Pathways to Work, the national employment strategy, work is continuing in relation to the development of the possible features of a Working Age Payment, which will include examining the structure of the jobseeker's allowance scheme.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The package of social protection measures in Budget 2024 are worth €2.3 Billion. For the second year in a row, it is the largest social protection package in the history of the State.

Budget 2024 provided an extensive package of cost-of-living payments along with targeted measures to assist low-income families. These measures included: a €12 weekly rate increase in primary payments, a €10 monthly increase to the Domiciliary Care Allowance and a €54 per week increase to the income thresholds for those in receipt of the Working Family Payment.

The package, also included a range of payments as follows:

In November 2023:

• A cost-of-living payment of €400 was paid to 46,000 recipients of the Working Family Payment.
• A payment of €300 was paid to over 400,000 people who receive the Fuel Allowance.
• A €400 payment was paid to those in receipt of either the Carer’s Support Grant or the Domiciliary Care Allowance.
• €100 was paid for each child where a person in receipt of a payment was receiving an Increase for a Qualified Child.

In December 2023:

• Families with children received a double payment of Child Benefit (benefitting about 1.2 million children).
• A 100% Christmas Bonus was paid to 1.3 million people on long-term schemes.

In January 2024:

• A double payment was also paid on the same basis as the Christmas Bonus.
• The maximum personal rate of payments on working age schemes increased by €12 per week.
• The level of Increase for a Qualified Child was increased by €4 bringing the weekly rates to €54 for those aged 12 or over and €54 for those aged under 12.

In addition to the above, I’ve been pleased to announce some key reforms which will benefit families such as, the extension of Parent’s Benefit to 9 weeks from August, extending the hot school meals scheme - which will benefit some 150,000 children and the extension of Child Benefit to 18-year-olds in full time education, among other measures. I am particularly pleased that we can bring the implementation date for the extension of Child Benefit forward from September to May.

The government has also provided, for example, every household with three energy credits of €150, which will be paid by April 2024.

A preliminary Social Impact Analysis undertaken in relation to the Budget 2024 Social Protection package highlighted its progressive impact, with the lowest income deciles benefitting the most.

I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.