Vol. 884 No. 1
6. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will acknowledge the concerns of many homeless charities to the effect that changes to the one-parent family payment structure will lead to an increase in homelessness and an increase in the number of persons in emergency accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24833/15]
My question is to ask the Minister and Minister for Social Protection whether she acknowledges the concerns of those working in the housing charities and those in homelessness to the effect that the changes to the one-parent family structure is going to lead to an increase in homelessness and the numbers seeking emergency accommodation.
In recent weeks I have met representatives from the non-governmental organisations in the housing sector and lone-parent representative groups. As I said to colleagues earlier, I am looking at all the social welfare payments in the context of the budget. Last year for lone parents and all parents I was happy to be able to increase child benefit and bring in the back to work family dividend for lone parents. I am aware of the concerns which have been raised around the reforms of the one-parent family payment.
While I welcome the debate that has been generated by the reforms, my priority is to ensure that we as a society arrive at a situation in which lone parents have the same opportunities to access employment, training and education as all others. For too long, significant numbers of lone parents have been confined to social welfare dependency, and despite the provision of extensive funding to lone parent payments, the one-parent family payment scheme has not succeeded in preventing lone parents from being more at risk of poverty than the population as a whole. I am concerned that the outcome for their children is not as good as it should be. Therefore, the Department will now work with lone parents on a one-to-one basis to provide them with enhanced access to the Department's supports and services.
In regard to people at risk of homelessness, two weeks ago the organisations informed me of their concerns about the number of families becoming homeless, particularly families that are not aware of the supports that are available. I wish to stress again that if the Deputy is aware of anybody who is at risk of becoming homeless, she should advise him or her to call to the Department's community welfare service, because we have a protocol in place which allows us to review the rent allowance. We have done that already in a significant number of cases in Dublin city and around the country.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
While responsibility for provision of accommodation for homeless persons rests with local authorities, the Department has put in place a number of preventative measures to ensure that people at risk of homelessness are supported under the rent supplement scheme where increased rental payments are required. The Department is actively communicating information on these supports, including by text message to all rent supplement beneficiaries. These measures allow for flexibility in assessing customers’ individual accommodation needs on a case-by-case basis. The community welfare service of the Department has a statutory discretionary power to increase a supplement for rental purposes, including when dealing with applicants who are in danger of homelessness. These measures are kept under review to ensure that the appropriate supports are provided.
No one would disagree with the Minister that lone parents should have the same opportunities as other parents. Also, I have been encouraging people who are experiencing problems in the area of rent supplement to go to the community welfare and social protection offices. However, as we know, one-parent families have suffered higher deprivation and poverty rates than the general population and now they are having to withstand a further cut. My concern relates to the detrimental effect of this on children. We know from the Ombudsman's report that back in 2008, some 6.8% of children were in consistent poverty. This year, that figure has risen to 11.7%, indicating an increase in childhood poverty. We have met the housing organisations and have heard the same statistics from them. Their great fear is that children may now join the numbers of rough sleepers.
The Minister is proceeding with the change to the structure of the payments. How well will that be monitored, and if the organisations' fears are realised, how quickly can the Department address that situation?
In 2004, at the height of the economic boom, the risk of consistent poverty for lone parents was more than four and a half times that of the population as a whole. In 2015, the risk of consistent poverty for lone parents is two and a half times that of the rest of the population. Therefore, the risk of poverty has halved in relative terms. It should also be noted that the latest CSO figures indicating that 23% of one-parent families are living in consistent poverty include both people who are in work and those who are not in work. The CSO study tells me that for lone parents who are at work, the consistent poverty rates are much lower, at approximately 10%. I do not think 10%, or two and a half times the poverty risk of the rest of the population, is acceptable.
If a lone parent with one child can get 19 hours' work at the minimum wage of €165, for example, and also gets approximately €230 per week in family income supplement and back-to-work family dividend from the Department, it gives that parent an income of €400 which is not taxable. This is a tremendous improvement on the figure of €188 plus €30 for one child which he or she would get if on lone parent allowance alone.
I thank the Minister for her response. I do not know which lone parents she has been meeting, but I have been hearing a different story from those I have met regarding what faces them. It is ironic that the One Family organisation issued a press release last March welcoming the fact that the Minister reversed the cuts to the carer's allowance for lone parents. The organisation said that was a lifeline for most vulnerable families with children who also care for a family member who is ill, elderly or has special needs. This was a welcome reversal, but now we are seeing genuine fear.
I could read out letters I have received from lone parents in my constituency about the difference this cut will make to them. They want the best possible outcomes for their children and they want the same opportunities for them as other families. However, they are not able to get that.
Again, I urge the Deputy, if she believes this has had a negative effect on lone parents whom she knows and caused a risk to their housing situation, to encourage those people to go to the community welfare service, where a protocol is in operation to assist them. This service has already assisted approximately 2,000 families on a one-to-one basis.
In regard to the changes in social welfare, as we are getting people back to work - we have got the unemployment rate down from 15.2% to 9.85% - the key to achieving this has been the Intreo office, which is a friendly place where people get income support and advice and can avail of support services. As a consequence, many people, including young people who might have felt they would never find work, have been assisted. I attended a graduation ceremony recently of young people involved in work. The key to success in this is one-to-one engagement. Therefore, I encourage the Deputy to ask some of the people affected to consider calling into the Intreo office and talking to an employment officer so we can see whether we can improve their situation, particularly their housing situation.
7. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will extend all Intreo services to persons with disabilities, including all the voluntary activation schemes, including the Youth Guarantee and MOMENTUM, regardless of payment type that the disabled person is on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24678/15]
This issue has already arisen in questions asked today. When will the Intreo services that are available for able-bodied people be extended fully to the disabled sector of the community?
The Government recognises the importance of increasing participation in employment for persons with a disability. The Department provides a wide range of work-related supports, which in 2015 will cost approximately €37 million, solely for persons with a disability. A person with a disability is at all times free to avail of the Intreo service on a voluntary basis. A complete range of activation supports for people with disabilities is provided in ten locations. This number will be extended over time based on operational experience.
The youth guarantee implementation plan provides for the introduction of earlier and more intensive engagement by Intreo with young unemployed people on the live register. Pathways to Work 2015 includes a commitment to develop and evaluate options to extend employment services to people not on the live register and improve the promotion and communication of existing activation options for this group. Young people with disabilities will be considered in this context. It is important to ensure that young people with disabilities get these opportunities. The MOMENTUM programme operated by SOLAS for the Department of Education and Skills was designed to provide free education and training to long-term jobseekers. The Department is positively disposed to opening access to the MOMENTUM programme to people with disabilities and is currently investigating and considering how this group can be accommodated in the programme.
The unemployment rate of 10% was mentioned but unemployment among those who are disabled ranges from 60% to 70%. There are activation measures to encourage the unemployed off the dole queues and into employment and it is only fair and just that those with a disability should have equal access to those activation measures. I received communication from the Disability Federation of Ireland which states that those on disability payments, for example, are not included on the live register and, therefore, are discriminated against when they seek activation and employment opportunities on a par with their non-disabled peers. Did I understand the Minister of State to say that all activation measures, apart from the MOMENTUM and the Youth Guarantee, are available on a voluntary basis to those with a disability? Could I get clarification on that? When can we expect those programmes to be extended to those with a disability, even on a voluntary basis?
I thank Deputy O'Dea for recognising the significant progress in reducing the live register. He is quite correct. The unemployment rate was at 15%, and heading for 500,000, but more than 100,000 net new jobs have been created in the economy since February 2012 and we have seen the unemployment rate drop into single figures. In the disability sector, the unemployment rate is far too high. It is key that the Intreo services are provided on a voluntary basis. Those are available in ten locations, including the one in Limerick. We want to roll the service out to all the other Intreo centres but we need to see what is the operational experience of that. The Minister and I want to provide the best service we possibly can for those with disabilities. As I stated earlier, the State is spending €37 million solely on activation measures for persons with a disability.
I thank the Minister of State for that information. I will not get into a debate on what sort of jobs we have created-----
I would very much welcome it, if the Deputy wishes.
-----and how better off people are as a result of all those jobs that have been created.
I have a specific question for the Minister of State. The Disability Federation of Ireland has also brought to my attention that the probability of exit, PEX, score, used by the Department of Social Protection, measures the probability of exit from the live register. The Disability Federation of Ireland and other organisations representing those with a disability are unhappy that the PEX is a one-size-fits-all structure. They are unhappy that it is not designed to accommodation variables associated with disabling conditions. Has that been brought to the Minister of State's attention and is the Department looking at that?
I thank the Deputy for bringing that to my attention. I have not looked at that recently but I certainly will do so.
I am quite happy to debate the 100,000 net new jobs that have been created since February 2012. When that target was announced, I remember Members on the Opposition benches stating it was overly ambitious, it would not be delivered and we would be looking at 2017. The plan was that over 100,000 jobs would be created in the economy by 2016. We have done that this year, a year ahead of schedule. In fact, there have been 104,464 net jobs created in the economy. I thank Deputy O'Dea for acknowledging that. Certainly, the best way out of poverty is getting into work and for those who have taken up employment, it has transformed their lives. Sadly, there are not more jobs. There are far too many still unemployed but we are rebuilding the country from the mess that we were left with.
I am sure the people will reward the Minister of State accordingly.
The Deputy who tabled Question No. 8 is not present, so we will move on to Question No. 9.
9. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide, in tabular form, the number of applications for an uplift in rent supplement that have been received in 2015 to date; the number granted; the number refused; and of those refused, the reasons provided for the refusal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24815/15]
Since 2011 the Government has slashed significantly the total amounts of rent supplement. The tenancy sustainable protocol in January was welcome and has helped. The previous reply we got in the House from the Minister stated that 500 families had been uplifted at that time. That was a few weeks ago. However, I would like to know the numbers of those who were refused. The Minister did not recognise that the Department did not have a legal leg to stand on in relation to uplifts and market rents, which is why the sustainability protocol emerged. Making a family homeless through lack of support of rent supplement was not an option to the Minister, even though she slashed it by hundreds of millions of euro in the past four years.
Deputy Broughan needs to go back and check his figures.
Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 68,000 people at an annual cost of €298 million. Over 5,600 claims have been awarded in 2015, of which almost 1,600 are in Dublin.
In response to the current market difficulties, the Department has implemented preventative measures under rent supplement to provide for flexibility in assessing customers' individual accommodation needs through the National Tenancy Sustainment Framework. The framework applies both to existing rent supplement customers and also to new applicants who qualify for the scheme. Under this approach, tenants' circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis and rents are being increased above prescribed limits throughout the country as appropriate. Notices have issued to community welfare service staff, twice within the past 12 month period, reminding them of their discretionary power to award a supplement for rental purposes. The Department is also working with Threshold's tenancy sustainment service in Dublin and Cork city where supply is most acute.
This flexible approach has already assisted over 2,100 rent supplement households nationwide to retain their rented accommodation through the payment of increased rent payments. A divisional breakdown of this figure is provided in the following tabular statement. Statistics are not maintained regarding the total number of applications made for increased payments or their outcome. However, where community welfare service staff are notified of a potential threat of tenancy loss due to rising rents, flexibility is provided where the uplift request is reasonable and in line with local rents for similar properties.
The Department has also undertaken a communications campaign which seeks to encourage tenants at risk to contact the Department or the Threshold tenancy protection service as early as possible.
I can assure the Deputy that I am keeping the Department's response under review to ensure that the necessary supports continue to be provided.
Increased Rental Payments by Division – 15 June 2015
|
Division |
Awards under National Tenancy Sustainment Framework |
Awards under protocol with Threshold |
Awards under Rent Supp. Initiative |
Total no. of increased payments by Division |
|
North East |
6 |
6 |
||
|
South East |
10 |
10 |
||
|
Midlands South |
315 |
315 |
||
|
Mid-West |
52 |
52 |
||
|
Cork Central |
45 |
21 |
66 |
|
|
North West |
19 |
19 |
||
|
West |
28 |
28 |
||
|
Mid Leinster |
58 |
58 |
||
|
South West |
25 |
25 |
||
|
Midlands North |
128 |
128 |
||
|
Dublin North/Dublin South/Dublin Central |
658 |
698 |
84 |
1,436 |
|
Overall Total |
1,344 |
719 |
84 |
2,147 |
The core part of the Minister of State's response, about delays in helping people to avoid homelessness, does not answer my question. He states there are no statistics. The biggest failure of this Government by far has been housing. As I said to the Taoiseach here a couple of weeks ago, and as both of the Ministers at the Department will be aware, every Thursday and Friday evening the homeless unit in Parkgate Street is completely under siege. Each weekend perhaps 70 families are not able to receive any emergency accommodation. There is no room at the inn for those families day after day, week after week. It is an intolerable situation. Some Members in this House have criticised Greece but this is a situation that mirrors or is worse than some of what is happening in Greece. We have five or six hotels completely full. We have dozens of other hotels and guest houses where many rooms are taken up with such families. The previous figures, which the Government only gave us in April last, showed that over 1,100 children and 500 families were homeless.
There has been no action on this matter. Next week a Minister will visit my constituency, Dublin Bay North, where hundreds of families are homeless, to launch a couple of dozen apartments. The Minister of State's colleague, Senator Hayden, is holding a meeting today about the deficiencies of rent supplement. Will he bring in legislation on rent regulation and at long last, before this Government ends, declare a housing emergency and introduce the equivalent of FEMPI for housing?
I do not know whether the Deputy is advocating that we go down the Greece route where there would be no social welfare or safety net to catch vulnerable people and no transfer through the Department of Social Protection to the most vulnerable.
I said that the Government was emulating Greece in this regard.
Please, the Minister of State has the floor.
The Deputy can either ask a question and get an answer or he can shout at me again, whichever he wants.
I am not getting answers.
The Deputy is well aware-----
There are no answers for homeless families.
Deputy, please. The Minister of State without interruption.
Deputy Broughan had an opportunity to stay within the Labour Party and work on solutions, but he always seemed to like opting out instead of doing that.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are opposed to rent regulation. The Minister of State knows that.
Please, stop. The Minister of State is entitled to reply.
There is no use in smiling, Tánaiste. That is the reality.
Look, Deputy-----
Just reply, please.
The Deputy asked a question and I will give him an answer.
Go ahead.
I served on Dublin City Council for long enough with Deputy Broughan. He knows the challenges of housing and homelessness that the country faces.
The Deputy well knows that there is a range of challenges that need to be addressed. To answer his specific question, he also knows well that the collapse of the construction industry has meant that virtually no houses have been built in the past six years. There was no money to do so.
I thank the Minister of State.
No, I want to say something. Deputy Broughan throws out simple solutions like "increase rent allowance". Increasing rent allowance-----
No, I asked for rent regulation.
Deputies, please.
-----will not resolve-----
I must be fair and call-----
Hold on. The Minister of State is trying to twist my words. I asked for rent regulation, but the Labour Party will not be allowed to introduce it because the majority party in government and the main party on this side are bitterly opposed to rent regulation. They represent the landlords.
Will the Deputy please ask a question? I am sorry, but our time is up. We will revert to the Minister of State then. Does the Deputy have a question?
Will the Tánaiste meet homeless people, people who are on the housing list and the national housing association and coalition in the coming weeks?
That question was not addressed to me.
No, but continue.
The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, will table proposals to the Cabinet regarding rent certainty before the summer recess.
How long will we keep hearing about that?
10. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the extent to which alternative payment arrangements for lone parents whose one-parent family allowance has ceased or been reduced continue to match their previous payment entitlements under the one-parent family scheme; if any exception has been brought to her attention; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24801/15]
This question relates to an issue that was raised by earlier questions. While I agree with the Tánaiste's policy on ensuring that lone parents have an opportunity to enter the workforce, improve their positions and so on, some households are seeing reductions in their disposable incomes. Will the Tánaiste clarify whether a counterbalancing can be introduced?
The purpose of the one-parent family payment age reforms that were introduced in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012 is to reduce long-term social welfare dependency. The reforms aim to improve lone parents' access to the Department's range of education, training and employment support programmes in order to assist them in securing employment and financial independence for themselves and their children. In this context, I specifically provided for a lengthy seven-year transition period. The relevant age in Ireland is seven years, but it is five years in the social welfare systems of almost all of the countries with which we are familiar.
We do not have child care.
In the North, the rest of the UK and Scandinavia, the age is five years or younger.
Scandinavian child care.
In our system, the age is seven years. There is a lengthy seven-year transition period up to 14 years of age.
The final phase of the one-parent family changes will happen in July when the maximum age limit of the youngest child at which a one-parent family payment per se ceases will be reduced to seven years for all recipients. They will then transfer into a seven-year transitional period up to the age of 14 years. Where lone parents are at home full-time, there will be no change in their circumstances except for the fact that all of the opportunities and supports that are open to people in terms of seeking and returning to work, education, training and experience will be available to them on a voluntary basis if they wish to get involved.
I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. I agree with the thrust of the policy, but will she keep a watching brief so as to reassure families that might find themselves vulnerable that their disposable incomes will remain intact as far as possible?
It would not be a cutback if-----
The Department's system is changing. Traditionally, departmental officials did not meet people on a one-to-one basis to support them. In the two years of the changes to date, approximately 19,000 lone parents have entered the transitional arrangement, so we now have a great deal of experience of how it works. People are called into group interviews to make them aware of the Department's services, followed by meetings on a one-to-one basis. It is like the Youth Guarantee, in that we are asking people to make life plans for their futures in terms of education, training and employment.
At the height of the boom in 2004, the number of lone parents who were at risk of poverty was four and a half times that of people who were not lone parents. In 2015, the changes have led to that figure decreasing to two and a half times. In any case of which Deputy Durkan is aware, I would ask the person to visit an employment officer and discuss the individual circumstances, and we will see what is possible. Approximately 2,000 parents affected by these changes have increased their hours so as to claim family income supplement, FIS, and are significantly better off financially-----
FIS has been cut.
-----than they used to be. It is simple - a lone parent working 19 hours on a minimum wage plus FIS and the back to work family dividend, which I just introduced to help all parents who were returning to work, would receive an income of approximately €400 compared with a much lower income on a lone parent payment only where he or she had only one child.
That is a "No".
The Tánaiste's own constituents are sending her letters about FIS being cut for women by €37 per week. Blatant lies. I can see why Fine Gael is doing it, but I do not know why the Tánaiste is.
