Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 July 2014
99. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her plans to raise the living standards of low income families within her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30928/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Revised Estimates Volume for 2014 provides for expenditure of €19.6 billion by the Department of Social Protection on schemes, services and administration. The vast majority of this expenditure goes on weekly income support payments as well as monthly child benefit payments. The Department currently provides income support to over 1.4 million recipients each week. When increases for qualified adults and children are included, more than 2.2 million directly benefit each week. These weekly payments have been fully maintained over the past three years in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government.
In addition to the weekly rates of payment, child benefit is paid to over 600,000 families each month, in respect of almost 1.2 million children. The Department also provides a wide range of supplementary payments and some benefits in kind.
The immediate impact of these payments, known as social transfers, is to reduce poverty. In 2012, CSO data shows that social transfers reduced the at-risk-of poverty rate from 50.3 per cent (before social transfers) to 16.5 per cent (after social transfers, including pensions), a ‘poverty reduction effect’ of 67.2 per cent. If pensions are excluded, the reduction is from 39 per cent to 16.5 per cent, or 57.7 per cent in relative terms. Ireland continues to be among the best performing EU countries in reducing poverty through social transfers.
Employment is the best route for protection against poverty and social exclusion. Since coming into office as Minister for Social Protection, I have focused on transforming the Department from the passive benefits provider to an active and engaged public employment service that assists in getting people back to work.
The Department is the lead Department on the Pathways to Work strategy, which complements the Government's Action Plan for Jobs. The Action Plan is designed to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, jobs-rich economy, while the aim of Pathways to Work is to ensure that as many as possible of those newly created jobs go to people on the Live Register. For instance, initiatives like JobsPlus, which provide a financial incentive to hire people who are long-term unemployed are proving very successful, particularly with the longer-term unemployed.
The Department also incentivises the take-up of part-time work through income disregards and tapering arrangements in the various means tested schemes as well as supporting lower income working families with children through the family income supplement scheme (FIS).
FIS offers a direct financial incentive to families to take-up employment. There are currently nearly 45,000 families with over 99,000 children in receipt of FIS. Expenditure on FIS has increased from €204.5 million in 2011 to an estimated expenditure of nearly €282 million in 2014.
The appropriate rates of welfare supports in the year ahead will be considered by Government as part of its deliberations on the next Budget.
