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B
UDGET is a few weeks away.
Poverty statistics tell a bleak story
about families led by a lone par-
ent. .% of one-parent families,
compared to .% of the rest of the pop-
ulation, live in consistent poverty. % of
one-parent families suffer material depriva-
tion, compared to % for the country as a
whole. It’s hard to imagine anything match-
ing the ‘shock & awe’ of Budget but
October th is being awaited with trepi-
dation by lone parents.
Our-social-welfare system is still based
on a male-breadwinner model. It has
responded to new needs piecemeal. By the
early s, there were three possible
payments for lone parents who were poor
enough to pass a means test. These were
the Unmarried Mothers’ Allowance, the
Deserted Wives Allowance/Benefit and the
Lone Parent Allowance. In these were
amalgamated into the One-parent Family
Payment (OFP).
This payment allowed lone parents to
combine caring and work with an earn-
ings disregard which tapered off as wages
increased. This enables lone parents to pay
for childcare. Figures vary, but official data
suggests that %-% of those on OFP
also work outside the home. It is worth not-
ing that while eligibility for OFP is gender
neutral, % of recipients are mothers.
More generally, % of all one-parent
families are led by fathers.
The payment was available until the
youngest child turned . In propos-
als were made by the late Minister Séamus
Brennan to reduce this age to , or years.
Crucially the proposals also included getting
rid of the co-habitation rule. This would
make all mothers in a household in receipt
of a social-welfare payment,
regardless of marital or fam-
ily status, subject to the same
conditions. The proposals were
widely supported, with some
well-founded concerns about
the lack of childcare and appro-
priate training opportunities.
In April , shortly after
getting into office, the new
Government passed legislation
that reduced the maximum age
of the youngest child in an eli-
gible one-parent family to
years. This was to be phased in
over five years for those already
on the OFP, but was in place
immediately for new applicants.
Lone-parent and other organi-
sations were disappointed that
the co-habitation rule, whose
removal would have brought
genuine reform, remained, but
otherwise there wasn’t much
criticism. was better than
, or years of age in a con-
text of high childcare costs and
a diminishing jobs market.
Then in December ,
Minister Brendan Howlin
announced that major ‘reforms’ were to
come in the forthcoming Social Welfare
Bill. A Sunday Times headline had previ-
ously suggested that the age limit would be
reduced again from to years of age. It is
worth noting that the proposed age reforms
would reduce payments made to working
lone parents only. Those on a social-welfare
payment alone will simply switch to a new
payment, with zero savings to the State.
OPEN, along with Barnardos and the
National Women’s Council of Ireland,
launched the ‘ is too young’ campaign in
response. We mobilised lone parents and
others to fight the changes. Ultimately, in
April , when Minister
Joan Burton read the Bill in the
Dáil, she promised that unless
Scandinavian childcare was
introduced by , she would
abandon the plans to change
the OFP.
The changes in age eligi-
bility have been delayed by
six months this year and, as
we understand it, will be fur-
ther delayed next year. A pilot
after-school scheme has been
launched. The Department has
introduced a special Jobseekers
‘transition’ payment for lone
parents whose youngest child
is aged between and
years. None of this is a ‘credit-
able childcare plan’ as outlined
by Minister Joan Burton. It will
neither change the impact of
the proposed age limit on child
poverty nor create any jobs for
lone parents to take up.
Ireland does not have
anything like Scandinavian
childcare, in terms of univer-
sal quality or access or indeed
affordability. So, unless the
Government keeps its promise to abandon
this so-called reform, seven-year-olds in
Ireland’s poorest families will remain the
poster children of Irish austerity.
Frances Byrne is director of OPEN, national
anti-poverty network of one-parent families.
Budget threatens fragile
one-parent familes
If the age of the youngest child for eligibility is to be reduced further we must
get improvements in childcare and training, and abolition of the cohabitation
prohibition for one-parent workers. By Frances Byrne
‘Minister
Joan Burton
promised
that unless
Scandinavian
childcare was
introduced
by 2014,
she would
abandon
the plans to
change the
One Parent
Family
Payment
“
One-ParenT Families POLITICS
