The Working Family Payment is a tax-free in-work support which is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid employees with child dependents, and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment. There are over 50,000 families with some 105,000 children currently in receipt of the Working Family Payment.
To qualify for the Working Family Payment a person must be engaged as an employee, in paid employment which is expected to last for at least 3 months and be working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight.
An applicant may combine their hours of employment with those of their spouse, civil partner or cohabitant to meet the hours requirement.
The applicant must also have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them or is part of a family supported by them. In addition, the person's income must be below the relevant threshold for their family size.
It is possible for the household of a self-employed person to receive Working Family Payment where the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the self-employed person is an employee who meets the qualifying criteria.
My Department has several schemes available to self-employed individuals including:
The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme which encourages people in receipt of certain social welfare payments to become self-employed. If a person takes part in the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme they can keep a percentage of their social welfare payment for up to 2 years.
The Short-Term Enterprise Allowance gives support to people who have lost their job and want to start their own business.
The Back to Work Family Dividend helps families to move from social welfare into employment or self-employment, by retaining a percentage (100% in year one and 50% in year two) of their child support payment(s) for two years.
Any changes to eligibility criteria of the Working Family Payment scheme would need to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context.
