I have read the report ‘Seven is too Young' published by OPEN and have noted its content. Until 2011, the one parent family payment (OFP) provided long-term income support, until children were aged 18, or 22 if in full-time education, to lone parents — without any requirement for them to engage in employment, education or training. Such long-term welfare dependency and passive income support to individuals of working age was not considered to be in the best interests of the recipient, of his or her children or of society.
It is recognised that the best route out of poverty is through paid employment. Work, and especially full-time work, may not be an option for parents of young children. However, it is believed that supporting parents to participate in the labour market, once their children have reached an appropriate age, will improve both their own economic situation and the social well-being of themselves and of their families.
In addition, despite significant levels of State spending on one-parent families as well as improvements made to the OFP over the years, the results have been poor in terms of tackling poverty and social exclusion and of encouraging economic independence. Lone parents and their children continue to experience high rates of "consistent poverty". The latest EU-SILC figures, published in November, 2011, show that, in 2010, 9.3% of lone parents in Ireland were experiencing "consistent poverty" compared to 7% of two-parent households and to 6.2% of the population as a whole.
Lone parents are not a homogeneous group — they have experienced different routes to lone parenthood, are of different ages, have different education and employment backgrounds as well as different needs.
Social assistance and the structure and delivery of payments have a key role to play in terms of incentive and disincentive effects with regard to commencing/returning to work, education or training and extending employment. While supports are available to those in receipt of the OFP payment, these are not currently provided in a structured or systematic way.
The reduction in the age limit of the youngest child for receipt of the payment moves the OFP scheme towards a single means-tested social assistance payment for people of working age, which is the Department's strategy with regard to means-tested income support. This payment will end the categorisation of customers, including lone parents, into different payment types and will instead focus on the person and on their individual capacities. People can then be given, or be directed to, the supports and services that they need in order to return to, or take up, employment, training or educational opportunities.