New website launched to help local parents get back to work

Labour has launched a website to promote back to work schemes, particularly the new Family Dividend that is designed to help Co. Louth's unemployed parents. 
 
The website, gettingback2work.ie, goes live next week and provides information on how local parents benefit from the Back to Work Family Dividend if they gain employment.
It was launched by Tánaiste Joan Burton, who introduced the dividend in the Budget to help parents bridge the cost gap of getting back to work. 
 
This includes those who move to self-employment, such as back into the construction sector, and those on One Parent Family Payment. Anyone getting Jobseeker’s Allowance who has dependent children and goes back to work will qualify.
At present, there are 3,167 on One Parent Family Payment in Co. Louth, while there are 12,310 in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Speaking following the website’s launch this week, Senator Mary Moran said: “Too many parents in Louth remain unemployed and part of that reason can often be the punitive cost of moving from welfare to work.
“To help curb this, we have introduced the new Back To Work Family Dividend, which allows parents retain their qualified child increase of €29.80 a week per child on a tapered basis over two years.
“This means that over the two years, a family with one child will receive additional support of €2,324 to supplement wages. A family with two children will receive €4,649, those with three children will get €6,973, while those with four or more will get €9,298.
“The new website will be a crucial tool in providing parents in Louth going back to work with information and advice as to how they can benefit from back to work schemes that are out there. The site is extremely user-friendly and its name, gettingback2work.ie, is easy to remember too.  
“Joan Burton has done a huge amount of work in trying to remove welfare traps from the system which disincentivise people from going back to work, and the continued decline in unemployment figures represents the fruits of that labour.
“The Back To Work Family Dividend is one of those steps and I hope it will be a significant help to people in our local community return to work.”
ENDS