Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 May 2021
126. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to calls from an organisation (details supplied) to extend the jobseeker’s transitional payment to lone parents of children until the youngest child turns 18 years of age; the estimated cost of such an extension in the payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26229/21]
View answerMy Department provides a number of options for income support to lone parents once their entitlement to the One-Parent Family Payment ceases. These include the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment where the youngest child is aged 7 to 13 years, inclusive, and the Jobseeker’s Allowance payment which may be paid to lone parents where the youngest child is aged 14 or over.
The Working Family Payment is also available to lone parents who are working 19 or more hours per week. Lone parents currently on Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment who increase their working hours to 19 or more per week can transfer to the Working Family Payment. Lone parents who move to that payment may also apply for the Back to Work Family Dividend.
To extend eligibility for the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment as proposed would be contrary to the policy goal of the changes to the One-Parent Family Payment scheme introduced since 2015. Those changes were designed to tackle long-term social welfare dependency and its associated poverty risks. This is done through a tapering of income supports and a more active engagement process offering enhanced educational, training and employment supports.
I am advised that the cost of increasing the age limit for a qualified child for the jobseeker's transitional payment (JST) until the youngest child reaches 18 is not easily estimated as there are significant barriers to undertaking such an exercise. For example, some people might no longer be within the welfare system, while others could seek to move from alternative payments such as Jobseekers Allowance. It would be difficult for my Department to estimate the magnitude of this flow into and between schemes with any degree of accuracy. Likewise, I am advised that the number of young people who are 18 years of age and over who are still in secondary education, and the proportion of those who are the children of lone parents in receipt of benefits, is not readily available or easily estimated.
