Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2017
390. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the actions her Department is taking in response to a report (details supplied) into the impact that changes to the one-parent family payment have had on lone parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44640/17]
View answerI have received the review referred to by the Deputy, which assessed the financial and social effects of the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) changes, taking into account the effects on welfare dependency and the poverty rates of those affected. I welcome a number of positive findings in the Review:
- The policy changes introduced have been successful in increasing employment and in reducing welfare dependency – the reforms increased the probability of both employment and of higher employment income.
- Responses to the survey showed that the percentage of lone parents in full-time employment increased from 15% to 22%.
- Welfare dependency rates fell in the year after One-parent Family Payment was lost, and continued to fall in subsequent years.
I believe these findings indicate the broad policy intentions of the changes are having positive results and making real changes to the lives of lone parents, where they have been able to transition into employment.
I acknowledge, however, that the review has also raised a number of matters of concern:
- Many of those who lost the One-parent Family Payment remain unemployed, or are in low paid or part-time employment,
- The balance of evidence indicates that there is an increased probability of being at risk of poverty as a result of the changes,
- Further supports, aimed at assisting lone parents to obtain full-time employment or increased hours of work, need to be put in place.
The impacts on lone parents arose from the combination of the policy changes to the scheme, and from the imposition, simultaneously, of the financial cuts imposed to welfare schemes across the board, arising out of the economic downturn. I, and my predecessors, have already taken action in recent Budgets to improve the position of lone parents, for example by progressively increasing the income disregard for those on Jobseeker's Transition (JST) from a low of €60 a week to €110 euro a week, and by targeting improved, tailored activation measures towards this group, to assist them into training and employment.
Budget 2018 builds further on recent Budgets and the following measures will specifically benefit lone parents:
- Income disregard for parents getting OFP and JST to be increased from €110 a week to €130 a week with effect from 29 March 2018;
- The Increase for a Qualified Child (IQC) rate to be increased from €29.80 a week to €31.80 a week with effect from 29 March 2018;
A number of other budgetary measures will also benefit lone parents, including the €5 rate increase, the additional week to the fuel allowance and the Christmas bonus of 85% to be paid in early December.
On foot of the measures for lone parents contained in Budget 2018, a lone parent on OFP or the JST working 15 hours at the national minimum wage will see an increase in their overall income of over €19 per week (or €1,000 per annum) from approximately €347 in 2017 to €366 in 2018.
A lone parent on OFP working 15 hours at the national minimum wage will see an increase in their overall income of €19 per week (or €1,000 per annum), or approximately 5 to 5.5%, based on a combination of the increase in the National Minimum Wage, the increase to the income disregards on OFP and JST, the rate increase of €5 per week and the IQC increase of €2 a week.
Lone parents who choose to participate in education can continue to receive support from the Department either through the retention of their primary payment or Family Income Supplement or they can transfer to the Back to Education Allowance. Furthermore, to support lone parents participate in education, SUSI grants (both maintenance and fee grants) are payable concurrently with One-parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transition. Therefore a lone parent can participate in education and receive the dual support of the One-parent Family Payment or Jobseeker's Transition and the SUSI maintenance grants. Where the lone parent is on Jobseeker's Allowance they can, should they wish to participate in education, transfer to the Back to Education programme.
The additional childcare supports coming on-stream will also be of particular benefit to lone parents.
I consider that these measures are a step in the right direction, and I am working to ensure that there is no loss in the momentum to enhance the support for lone parents. The Review points to the need to intensify both the engagement with lone parents as they move off One-parent Family Payment, and the activation supports available, and I have requested my officials to prioritise this.
The Department’s employment services provide a case-managed approach to assist lone parents to avail of various opportunities within an ever-improving labour market. This case-managed approach will be developed further, specifically to offer more tailored and holistic progression plans for lone parents that better reflect their individual circumstances.
The move to more tailored progressions plans for lone parents will incorporate supports to access the child care, education and training and other appropriate supports that they require to, in turn, access the labour market. These changes should help to improve the living standards of, and reduce the risk of poverty faced by, lone parents.
I intend to continue to prioritise supports for lone parents, particularly those which incentivise work over welfare. I intend also to provide for the further review of the scheme. As there is a time lag before the benefits of labour market reforms appear I anticipate that this review will include data to the end of 2018.
