Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 July 2012
330 Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Social Protection the progress that has been made to date in the development of her credible, bankable plan for Scandinavian-style child care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31764/12]
View answer332 Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will guarantee that, in the intervening period before the introduction of a system of Scandinavian-style child care, no parent who moves from the one parent family payment to jobseeker’s allowance will have their payment cut because they are deemed not to meet genuinely seeking work requirements if they cannot source child care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31766/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 330 and 332 together.
An Inter-Departmental Sub-group on School-Age Child Care was set up earlier this year. This group consists of representatives from my Department, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs — which is the lead Department in relation to child care policy and provision — and the Department of Education and Skills. The role of the group is to quantify the school-age child care needs of social welfare income support recipients, initially for lone parents, and to define the best model for the provision of these services. The model, and accompanying proposals, will then be submitted to the Government for approval.
The model will address the child care requirements of children aged between 7 and 12 (inclusive). The model will also address the school-age child care required during both the school-term and the school holidays.
When the youngest child of a lone parent reaches the age of 7, if the parent is still in need of income support, they can apply for a jobseeker's payment — which is paid at the same basic rate as the one parent family payment (OFP) (€188 per week), and which has the same additional increases for each additional qualified child (€29.80 per child per week) — and receive the activation supports attached to that payment. They will then be profiled and their individual needs will be assessed. This will facilitate the agreement of a progression plan with these customers, the development of their case management to assist them to either improve on existing skills or learn new ones, and their gradual move towards or entry into the workforce.
Should lone parents decide to make an application for jobseeker's allowance (JA) they will have to meet the eligibility criteria of the JA scheme. At present, this includes that they must genuinely be seeking work. Specifically in relation to childcare requirements, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme provides subsidised childcare for low-income families including many social welfare recipients. An individual who is unemployed can avail of this subsidised childcare. This programme enables individuals with young children who are in receipt of OFP or JA to seek employment but it also provides them with subsidised childcare should they secure low income employment.
In advance of the OFP payment ceasing, lone parents can also apply for the back-to-education allowance (BTEA), the back-to-work enterprise allowance (BTWEA) or, if the parent is in employment of over 19 hours per week, for the family income supplement (FIS), or for another appropriate payment.
