Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 September 2021
271. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection if consideration has been given to extending the working family payment to the self-employed; if any costings have been carried out to examine the matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47232/21]
View answerThe Working Family Payment is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings. The Working Family Payment is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependents, and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment. At end-August 2021, there were over 46,000 families with over 106,000 children in receipt of the Working Family Payment. Expenditure on the scheme in 2020 was €377.3 million.
To qualify for Working Family Payment, a person must be engaged in full time paid employment as an employee which is expected to last for at least 3 months and be working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight or 19 hours per week. A couple may combine their hours of employment to meet the qualification criteria. The applicant must also have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them or is supported by them.
It is possible for the household of a self-employed person to receive a working family payment where the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the self-employed person meets the qualifying criteria.
There are also a number of other schemes available to self-employed individuals details of which are as follows:
- The Back to Work Family Dividend - which helps families to move from social welfare into employment, including self-employment, by retaining their qualified child increase for up to two years.
- The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme encourages people getting certain social welfare payments to become self-employed. Where a person takes part in the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme, they can keep a percentage of their social welfare payment for up to 2 years;
- The Short-Term Enterprise Allowance gives support to people who have lost their job and want to start their own business.
As there are already a number of supports available to self-employed individuals, there are no plans to extend the Working Family Payment to self-employed individuals at this time.
Any extension of the Working Family Payment to other categories of persons, such as the self-employed, has expenditure implications and would have to be considered in a budgetary context. My Department estimates that for every additional 1,000 Working Family Payment claims it would cost approximately €7.2 million per year.
