Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2015
201. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the cuts due to be imposed on lone parents; the reason there is a proposed cut on lone parents who are in receipt of a half rate carer’s allowance and will no longer be eligible for the OPFP due to the age of their youngest child; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2572/15]
View answer206. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the cut that is facing lone parents who are in receipt of a half rate carer’s allowance, who will no longer be eligible for the one parent family payment due to the age of their youngest child and will lose €86 a week when they are transferred to the full carer's allowance; if she will review same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2613/15]
View answer208. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will review and reverse the decision regarding lone parents who are in receipt of a half rate carer's allowance for caring for someone other than their own children who will no longer be eligible for the one parent family payment due to the age of their youngest child and who will lose €86 a week as they will be transferred to a full rate carer's allowance which will not amount to the same as the full one parent family payment and the half rate carer's allowance which is a huge loss of income to these vulnerable families; if she will put another payment in place of the one parent family payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2672/15]
View answerI propose to take Question Nos. 201, 206, and 208 together.
As of the end of November, 2014, there were 70,304 recipients of the one-parent family payment (OFP). Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the OFP scheme of approximately €607 million.
The purpose of the phased OFP scheme age change reforms that were introduced in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2012, is to reduce long-term social welfare dependency by ending the expectation that lone parents will remain outside of the workforce indefinitely. These reforms aim to provide the necessary supports to lone parents to help them to access the Department’s range of education, training, and employment programmes, to develop their skills set and, ultimately, to secure employment and financial independence.
The final phase of the OFP scheme age change reforms will be taking place on 2 July, 2015, when the maximum age limit of the youngest child at which an OFP recipient’s payment ceases will be reduced to 7 years for all recipients. It is anticipated that approximately 30,200 OFP recipients will transition out of the OFP scheme on that day.
When introducing the OFP scheme age change reforms, a special provision was included for recipients who are claiming the domiciliary care allowance (DCA) payment for a disabled child aged under 16 years alongside a half-rate carer’s allowance (CA). The half-rate CA is only payable for children aged under 16 years where the DCA is also in payment.
In these circumstances, the OFP payment is extended beyond the maximum age limit of the scheme and paid until the child for whom the DCA is in payment reaches the age of 16 years. This special provision ensures that OFP recipients who care for a disabled child will continue to receive support until that child reaches the age of 16 years and can apply for the disability allowance (DA) in their own right.
As a result of this special provision, 1,650 lone parents will continue to receive both the OFP payment and half-rate CA and will not be affected by the OFP scheme age change reforms on 2 July, 2015.
Approximately 800 other customers who are claiming both the OFP and half-rate CA payments are caring for another person (i.e. an adult or a child aged 16 years or over) and, as such, are not in receipt of the DCA payment. These customers will transition out of the OFP scheme on 2 July, 2015, and will have their CA claim automatically assessed and re-rated to a full-rate CA payment of €204 per week and €29.80 per week for each qualified child. The income loss occurs as these lone parents are moving from one-and-a-half payments to a single full-rate CA payment. This is the most advantageous option that is available to these lone parents. These individuals will retain their existing secondary benefits such as the respite care grant, free travel and the household benefits package.
Historically, the transition of recipients from the OFP scheme to the CA scheme has always occurred in this manner, with concurrent OFP and half-rate CA entitlement being replaced with full-rate CA entitlement once the maximum age limit of the youngest child is reached. There are no plans to review the ongoing OFP entitlement to the age of the youngest child.
