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Social Welfare Benefits.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 October 2004

Wednesday, 27 October 2004

Questions (145, 146)

Liz McManus

Question:

249 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a FIS payment is fixed for 12 months and does not alter even though the circumstances of the entitled person may change during that period; if a review of the regulations will be made and ensure that the FIS system is more responsive to individual needs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26219/04]

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Written answers

The family income supplement, FIS, scheme is designed to provide an incentive for low paid workers with families to take up or remain in full-time employment. An integral feature of the scheme is that, once the level of the FIS payment is determined, it continues to be payable at that level for a period of 52 weeks provided that the claimant remains in employment. However, the rate of payment can be amended where an additional child is born in the course of the 52 weeks.

A key advantage of this approach, which is unique to the FIS scheme, is that claimants can be certain that they will receive a guaranteed level of income support throughout the period. This certainty is important to the success of the scheme in providing a real incentive to workers with families to avail of employment opportunities.

On balance, the net impact of the present approach is likely to be significantly positive for workers, given that wage movements are likely to rise rather than fall in the majority of cases during the year. The impact of more regular reviews would most likely be lower payments for most FIS recipients, employers and my Department. Any change in the existing arrangements would require legislative change. Given the nature and purpose of the FIS scheme, I am not convinced that any such change would be appropriate.

Bernard Allen

Question:

250 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he proposes to put out to tender the administration and payment of social welfare which is currently with An Post. [26273/04]

View answer

An Post is the principal agency through which payments are delivered to customers of my Department. Currently, some 60% of payments are made at post offices. These payments are made by book payment at post offices or by electronic information transfer.

Apart from payments through An Post, my Department also operates cheque payment to certain customers and, increasingly, payment by electronic fund transfer to bank and building society accounts. The volume of payments made by electronic methods will increase as more customers opt for this convenient method of payment.

My Department intends continuing to offer a range of payments options to our customers. There are no plans, however, for payment services to be put to tender at this stage.

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