Gary Gannon
Question:1014. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing parent's benefit by one week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19835/22]
View answerTuesday, 26 April 2022
Questions (1014)
Written answers
Parent's Leave and Benefit are currently available for five weeks to all eligible parents of children born or adopted from 1 November 2019 and must be used within the first two years of the child’s life or adoption. Parent’s Benefit is paid at €250 per week - the same rate as Maternity, Paternity and Adoptive Benefits.
Provision was made in Budget 2022 to increase the number of weeks of Parent's Leave and Benefit available to eligible parents from five weeks to seven weeks from July 2022.
The estimated cost of the increase in Parents Benefit from five to seven weeks in 2022 is €9.4 million and the overall cost for a full year is €19.2 million.
The estimated cost of increasing parent's benefit by one further week is €9.75 million.
The estimated costs shown are based on the estimated number of recipients in 2022. It should be noted that these costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.
Decisions around the extension of this benefit would have to be considered in a budgetary context.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.