Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 September 2015
56. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in County Louth currently in receipt of the one parent family payment in 2015; the number who are no longer deemed eligible for the payment further to changes in the scheme in July 2015; and the number of these who are now in receipt of the back to work family dividend. [32601/15]
View answerLatest figures for the Department’s 3 offices in Co Louth indicate that there are 1,696 recipients of One Parent Family Payment (OFP). These are customers who are parenting alone and have a youngest child under the age of 7.
There are an additional 600 recipients of Jobseekers Allowance Transition (JST) payment. Customers on JST would again be customers parenting alone but their youngest child is aged over 7 but is under 14 years of age.
A number of customers would also have come off OFP and have children aged over 14. Where these customers are working more than 19 hours per week or where they did increase their hours to achieve 19 hours employment per week, they would currently be in receipt of Family Income Supplement (FIS).
An estimated 126 former OFP customers with children over the age of 14 on 2 July last would now be eligible for Jobseekers Allowance (JA). Of these, over half made the application for JA while another third applied for FIS. Others are currently on supplementary welfare allowance, pending decisions on other claims or are already back in the workforce.
Where jobseekers customers are not working, their transfer from OFP will not have affected their weekly income, as rates are the same. However, they will already be benefitting from the activation supports available to all jobseekers from the Department.
There are currently some 366 customers in receipt of the Back to Work Family Dividend in the Department's Louth offices. Back to Work Family Dividend is available to customers returning to work and coming off a jobseekers claim or for former OFP customers who exit the scheme due to the age of their youngest child, are in employment and do not qualify for JST or JA.
