Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 September 2014
129. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her views on a matter (details supplied) regarding a one-parent family payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35691/14]
View answerThe number of one parent family payment (OFP) recipients stood at 71,886 in August, 2014, and an estimated €863 million is due to be spent on the scheme in 2014.
The Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2012, contains provisions to reduce, on a phased basis, the maximum age limit of the youngest child at which an OFP recipient’s payment ceases to 7 years from 2014 for new entrants and from 2015 for existing recipients. These reforms, which were introduced in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2012, are predicated on activation and on getting lone parents back into the workforce once their children have reached an appropriate age.
Persons in receipt of the OFP who applies for and receives the back to education allowance will have to reapply for the OFP scheme once their college course is completed. Provided that they still satisfy the underlying conditions for OFP, i.e. parenting alone and the means test, then they will subject to the same OFP age criteria they had been before they went on the back to education allowance. They will not be assessed under the criteria for new entrants to the OFP scheme.
