Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2016
253. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will consider changing the family income supplement regulations for a person accessing a higher paying job that surpasses the income limit from losing all support, to a graduated system that would allow a person to get a promotion or higher paying job while also maintaining some level of family income support throughout the set transition period. [17996/16]
View answerThe Family Income Supplement (FIS) is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. FIS is designed to prevent child and family poverty and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment as compared to social welfare payments. Expenditure on FIS for 2016 is estimated to be of the order of €410 million and it is currently paid to some 56,000 families in respect of almost 123,000 children.
As part of Budget 2016 Family Income Supplement income thresholds were increased by €5 for families with one child and €10 for families with two or more children.
An integral part of FIS is that the payment continues at the same rate for a period of 52 weeks, assuming the eligibility requirements continue to be met, except in the following circumstances:
- If a claimant starts to care for an additional child in the course of the 52 weeks.
- If a claimant was getting a one-parent family payment and this payment was stopped because their youngest child reached the relevant age limit.
The rate of payment will not change if there is an increase or decrease in earnings. The advantage of this approach, which is unique to the FIS scheme, is that claimants will receive a guaranteed level of income support throughout the period. This certainty is important to the success of the scheme as it provides an incentive to claimants to maximise their earnings from employment (e.g. more hours, higher wages). For those who experience a reduction in earnings, the rate of payment will be reassessed at renewal of their FIS claim.
There are currently no plans to introduce a graduated FIS scheme, which would continue to pay FIS above the current family thresholds. The introduction of such a system could have significant financial implications for the Exchequer and would have to be considered carefully in an overall budgetary context.
