Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2014
478. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Social Protection in view of the recent coverage whereby a family was identified as entitled to qualify for in excess of €70,000 per annum in social welfare entitlements, her plans to review the schemes. [12828/14]
View answerThe maximum amount of social welfare paid to any family depends on the composition of that family and the type of welfare support appropriate to that family. In this regard, it is self-evident that a family with more child dependants, for example, or with caring requirements, will receive more than a family with none and so on.
In some cases, families receive larger volumes of supplementary payments and therefore have a higher level of welfare income. This is usually because one or more family members require caring or have a disability, in which case the Department of Social Protection provides extra supports to assist the families in question.
It should be noted that, as regards people of working age receiving welfare payments, the vast majority of those on the Live Register receive only a single personal weekly payment of €188 or less and no additional benefits of any kind. Those individuals therefore have a very strong incentive to work.
In a small percentage of cases where a disincentive to work does exist, I am overseeing extensive reforms to remove such disincentives and assist people back to work and towards financial independence. For example, the Department is working with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to introduce Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), to replace Rent Supplement. HAP will subsidise rent for people on welfare and in low-income employment so that they will not lose housing assistance when they move from welfare to work.
In addition, the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare is currently progressing its final module of work on the issue of working age income supports and the interaction of the tax and social welfare systems. The aim of the Group’s work is to determine how the social welfare system can best achieve its goals of supporting persons through periods of involuntary unemployment while also incentivising work and disincentivising welfare dependency.
