The Working Family Payment is a weekly, tax-free payment available to low-paid employees with children. It provides extra financial support to families with children with rates of payment based on household income and family size. There are over 55,000 families with some 111,000 children currently in receipt of the Working Family Payment.
To qualify for the Working Family Payment, a person must be in paid employment working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight.
Hours spent in self-employed work cannot be used to meet the 38 hours per fortnight requirement, however it is possible for the household of a self-employed person to receive Working Family Payment where a spouse, or partner is an employee who meets the qualifying criteria.
It is important to note, that significant supports have been introduced for self-employed workers in recent years. Self-employed PRSI contributors now have access to over 90% of the value of all benefits available to employees, while the PRSI contribution rate for the self-employed is lower than the combined rate paid in respect of employees.
The supports available to the self-employed include Jobseeker’s benefit (self-employed) and Jobseeker’s Allowance, subject to a means test.
My Department also recently conducted a public consultation on a potential new Working Age Payment and Targeted Child Payment. These proposed reforms could effectively replace the existing Working Family Payment. The consultation closed on 12 June.
During the consultation process, the public were asked to provide feedback on a range of policy considerations, including what approach should be taken with regard to the treatment of self-employed income.
As of close of business on 12 June, the Department had received 272 submissions. These consisted of 240 personal submissions and 32 submissions from non-government organisations and stakeholder groups.
Currently, officials in my Department are reviewing and analysing all public submissions, and more detailed design work on these payments is underway. Any future self-employed eligibility considerations would need to be examined within the wider policy and budgetary context, and would also need to consider any associated increase to PRSI contributions.
