Warning as cut to lone-parent payment could push many to poverty

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has been urged to hold back on cutting the main support payment to lone parents amid warnings that it could push many people into poverty.

Budget 2013 included measures included changes to the One-Parent Family Payment (OPFP) that were to be phased in over a period of time, described as activation measures to encourage more lone parents to access work or education.

However, while the changes to the criteria for eligibility have already seen thousands of lone parents affected, tens of thousands of others face losing the OPFP in July — including an estimated 4,000 who are already working.