Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan is planning a major overhaul of the single-parent allowance scheme next year, which is expected to abandon the "cohabitation rule" that recipients must not be living with a partner, writes Liam Reid, Political Reporter.
The move follows a report by the Department of Social and Family Affairs which indicated that between 30 and 40 per cent of people in receipt of the single-parent allowance are breaking the cohabitation rule. The report, which was brought to Cabinet before Christmas, will be launched next month as part of a public consultation in advance of the scheme's overhaul.
The report showed there were more than 80,000 families relying on the One Parent Family scheme, which the lone parents allowance is now called, at a cost of €769 million this year.
The number of people on the scheme is double that in receipt of single-parent payments 10 years ago. The report also showed that one in five children being born in Ireland are to families in receipt of single-parent social welfare payments.
The second objective of the reform will be to allow people to earn more from working without incurring a loss in social welfare. The current system is expected to be replaced by a more "family-friendly" payment regime that does not encourage unmarried parents to live apart.
Mr Brennan told The Irish Times that the planned overhaul of the scheme was part of a wider Government strategy to tackle child poverty, with upwards of 60 per cent of children at risk of poverty living in single-parent families.
"The aim of the review is to help people out of the poverty trap," he said. "Payments to families at risk of poverty shouldn't be about whether people are living together or not."
The report states that 2,000 people, or 3 per cent of the total, had their single-parent payments terminated in 2004. However, inspectors estimated the real rate of cohabitation at between 30 and 40 per cent. Mr Brennan said he believed the cohabitation rule would take inordinate resources to enforce, a move he did not believe was desirable. "I have no intention of having an army of inspectors out knocking on doors trying to enforce an 18th-century type of rule," he said. He added that he was concerned that the system was encouraging unmarried parents to remain apart, which had the danger of "building up social problems".
The review will also address the issue of allowing people in receipt of the scheme to work.
Currently parents in receipt of allowances can earn up to €12,000 per year, but they face losing most of their welfare entitlements if they go into full-time employment. Recipients also face reduced payments if they want to return to full-time education.
He said the Government had no intention of reducing the payments one-parent families were receiving, and the aim was to maintain family income while not discouraging parents from cohabiting, and enable them to return to work or return to college.
"Both nationally and socially, there are compelling reasons for tackling this area," he said. "This is not a financial issue. There will be no effect on the finances of people on single-parent allowances.
"What I want to replace it with is a family-friendly, child-centred payment aimed at low-income parents, whether they're single, married or living together." He said the report showed that claims that there were large numbers of teenage mothers reliant on social welfare was "just pub talk", with just 2.2 per cent of recipients aged under 20.