Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 October 2022
70. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding her Department’s modelling of the impacts of the increase in the thresholds of the working family payment; the number of additional families likely to be able to avail of the payment; the distributional impact of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50398/22]
View answerI'm pleased that Budget 2023 includes a social welfare package of more than €2.1 billion. This extensive package includes measures in relation to the Working Family Payment. Approximately half of the recipients of Working Family Payment are single adult households so these measures are also of benefit to lone parents.
The 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.
The Budget package includes a range of measures that will assist people with the cost of living in one-off payments this Autumn. This includes a once-off payment of €500 to recipients of the Working Family Payment. A payment of €500 will be made to families in receipt of Working Family Payment on the payment date regardless of the level of their Working Family Payment. This payment will be made in November at an estimated cost of €23 million. Approximately, 44,000 families with approximately 97,000 children will receive this payment.
In addition, I have also provided for a €40 per week increase in the Working Family Payment thresholds for all family sizes. This is the highest ever increase in the Working Family Payment thresholds. This will ensure that families on low incomes will receive more weekly income from the scheme - up to €24 per week. It will also ensure that the increase of 80 cent per hour in the National Minimum Wage does not negatively impact on people's income from the Working Family Payment.
This change also means that more people will qualify for the payment. While it is difficult to model with true precision how many new families will enter the scheme, I expect this to be in the region of 1,600 families. It should be noted that this estimate is subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients. This measure will take effect from January at a cost of approximately €16.8 million in 2023.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
