Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 November 2018
1032. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason those in receipt of the working family payment are not eligible for the Christmas bonus; if she has considered extending the bonus to those in receipt of the payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44836/18]
View answerThe Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependants and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment. According to Eurostat Data, the parental in-work poverty rate in Ireland is less than half the EU average and this is in large part due to in-work supports such as the WFP and the Back to Work Family Dividend.
An integral part of the WFP scheme is that once the level of payment is determined, it continues to be payable at that rate for a period of 52 weeks, provided that the person remains in full-time employment. The rate of payment will not change if there is an increase or decrease in the recipient’s earnings. A key advantage of this approach, which is unique to the WFP scheme, is that claimants can be certain that they will receive a guaranteed level of income support throughout the period. The average weekly payment across all families is currently in the region of €135 per week.
There are currently over 54,000 families with almost 122,000 children in receipt of WFP. The estimated spend on WFP for 2018 is approximately €431 million, following the increase in the thresholds provided for in Budget 2018.
The focus of the Christmas Bonus has always been on people who rely on the social welfare system for long-term financial support. Consequently, it is paid to people who are in receipt of a wide range of long-term social welfare payments. People in receipt of short-term payments do not qualify for the Christmas bonus. The bonus is paid as a percentage of an individual’s weekly entitlement.
Any changes to the qualifying criteria for the Christmas Bonus would have to be considered in a Budgetary context.
