Bríd Smith
Question:1563. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount it would cost to restore the income disregard to the OPFP and JST payments to €146.50. [36401/17]
View answerWednesday, 26 July 2017
Questions (1563)
Written answers
The cost of increasing the One Parent Family Payment and the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment earnings disregard from €110 per week to €146.50 per week is set out in the following table:
|
Scheme |
Increase income disregard to: |
Approximate cost to the Exchequer in a full year |
|
One Parent Family Payment |
€146.50 a week |
€11.1 million |
|
Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment |
€146.50 a week |
€4.2 million |
|
Total |
€15.3 million |
The above costings are based on the number of recipients who were working and earning in excess of €110 per week on both the One-Parent Family Payment and the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment as of March 2017.
The costings do not take into account potential behavioural changes, or the inflow of new entrants, which may arise from the introduction of higher income disregards. There would be additional costs on foot of these two factors, which are not possible to cost and have not been factored into the above costing of €15.3 million.