Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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1757. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will increase the index-link of the income disregard for the one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s transitional payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41046/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The One-Parent Family Payment is a payment for lone parents whose youngest child is under 7 years old. The Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment is a special arrangement under the Jobseeker’s Allowance scheme for lone parents whose youngest child is between 7 and 13 years of age inclusive. Both schemes are means tested social assistance payments.

These schemes include earnings disregards, whereby the first €165 of weekly earnings is disregarded, with 50% of any amount above this also disregarded. The disregards have been designed to avoid cliff edges, as customers only see their payment reduce as they earn more from employment. The disregards are not index-linked.

Any proposed change to the One-Parent Family Payment or Jobseeker's Transitional Payment disregards, including would need to be considered in an overall budgetary context.