Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 November 2016
44. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason his Department places the responsibility for seeking child maintenance payments on lone parents on the termination of the one-parent family payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36229/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis is one of the few countries that does not have statutory maintenance agencies. Custodial parents are forced to seek maintenance payments through a combative court system. They are also responsible for pursuing the non-payment of maintenance payments.
The Family Law Acts are within the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality. They place a legal obligation on parents to maintain their children, regardless of whether they are the parents in receipt of welfare payments. In cases where the family unit has broken down, these obligations continue to apply and the relevant maintenance payments can be arranged either directly or through supports such as the Family Mediation Service, the Legal Aid Board and the courts. The arrangement of maintenance payments is, therefore, a civil matter between both parents, regardless of whether either of them is in receipt of a social welfare payment. In most cases, they are not.
In order to be eligible for a social welfare payment, an individual must satisfy the contingencies and criteria of the relevant scheme. Needless to say, eligibility for the one-parent family payment and the jobseeker's transitional payment requires the applicant to be parenting alone.
The seeking maintenance condition ensures that both of these schemes remain targeted exclusively at people who are parenting alone and therefore most in need of support.
In the vast majority of one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s transitional payment cases where maintenance is in payment, lone parents are successful in arranging maintenance themselves or under the family law provisions. The liability to maintain family provisions, contained in the social welfare legislation, is separate to, and does not negate or supersede parents' obligations under family law. Currently, contribution assessments can only be carried out where the one-parent family payment is in payment and that does not extend to other social welfare payments.
The Department is currently reviewing the liability to maintain family provisions. The options include extending the liability to maintain family provisions to jobseeker’s transitional and possibly other social welfare payments, or removing the requirement altogether. This is a very complex issue, and any changes would require significant legislative and operational changes potentially to family law as well as to social welfare law. Any legislative changes will be brought before the joint Oireachtas committee for pre-legislative scrutiny.
I think the Minister would agree that the current situation for lone parents when it comes to child maintenance is bizarre but he is doing nothing to address it. A condition of receiving the one-parent family payment is that the recipient is obliged to seek maintenance from the other parent. After the changes to the one-parent family payment back in July 2015, the Department wrote to the non-custodial parents advising them that they were no longer obliged to pay maintenance unless there was a court order in place. Lone parents are now forced to take out court orders to try to seek child maintenance or else they are at risk of losing their payment. Courts will not issue summonses for maintenance unless the custodial parent has a current address for the non-custodial parent, and that is not always known. The lone parent's address is provided on a court order, therefore giving the non-custodial parent the details. I am sure the Minister is aware that in some circumstances that could put the lone parent in danger, especially if that was a previously abusive relationship. Once a court order is issued the Department assesses court order maintenance as a means, regardless of whether it is paid or not. That is absolute madness. Lone parents are trapped and they must seek maintenance to receive payment or risk penalties.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta.
They are worse off seeking it as it is taken into account as means regardless of whether the maintenance is paid or not.
Tá an Teachta thar am.
Could I just ask the Minister this question?
Will the Minister stop leaving it up to the lone parents and seek to set up a child maintenance system?
With respect, I think the Deputy is getting a few things mixed up. Many lone parents are not in receipt of social welfare payments. This is primarily a matter of family law and under family law, regardless of anything to do with social welfare, people have an obligation to provide for maintenance of their children. That is a civil matter between the two parents concerned. What the Department can do, if the person is on the one-parent family payment - and only the one-parent family payment - is seek a determination order. For example, if a lone parent is in receipt of a disability payment or some other payment it was never the case that the Department could seek a determination. I have a copy of the letter that is issued to partners and it does not say what Deputy Brady said. I will try to dig it out and read it out because the information the Deputy has been given on the contents of the letter is not fully accurate. I wish to make it very clear that it is the Department's policy never to request a lone parent to contact an abusive partner and seek maintenance. We have heard a claim from one representative organisation that this was done and we have asked for information in that case, or in any similar case, in order that we can see whether that was the case but it has not provided the information yet.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Deputy Brady can ask his final supplementary question.
If that is the case it was done mistakenly and we want to know.
I have also seen the letter that was sent out. I wish to give the Minister a couple of examples. I know he loves to use examples from the North as a means to attack Sinn Féin so I wish to give him one example of how child maintenance works there and perhaps he could look at that and use it in the future. The Child Maintenance Service in the North sorts out child maintenance for lone parents. The service finds the non-custodial parent, works out how much maintenance is to be paid, arranges the payment to the lone parent and reviews the payment amount annually. If the non-custodial parent fails to make a maintenance payment he or she can be fined up to £300 for non-payment. The service can make contact with the employer who is obliged to provide details so that the payment can be taken from the employee's wages or, alternatively, it can be taken from benefits.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta.
The service will initiate court action as a very last resort.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta.
The Minister needs to look at this issue. It is not enough to say it is a civil matter between two parents.
I call on the Minister, Deputy Varadkar.
Why did the Department send out a letter saying that the non-custodial parent has no responsibility for the child once he or she reaches the age of seven?
I must ask the Deputy to conclude.
The Minister needs to tackle this issue instead of cutting lone parents means.
If we prolong the time for questions in this manner then others will lose out at the end.
Any of those things are principally matters of family law. I am no expert in the UK system but at one stage there was a child support agency, a government agency that would, for want of a better term, go after fathers and get the money from them. If we were to make a decision to go down that road it would be a point of family law it would not be something that would be exclusive to social protection.
I am sorry that I cannot find the letter because I did ask for a copy of the letter that is sent out to the other parent in such cases. I have just found it. It says:
As Mr. or Mrs. X is no longer receiving a one-parent family payment, your liability to pay the contribution assessed by the Department has ended. You should be aware however that this does not in any way affect any other maintenance arrangement, private or otherwise, that you may have in place with Mr. or Mrs. X and this should remain in place.
So if anyone has informed Deputy Brady that a letter issues from my Department saying that such fathers no longer have any liability they have misinformed him and he should be sceptical of what they say to him in future.
Why was the letter sent out in the first place?
