Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 October 2013
54. Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons whose children turned 18 years of age during their last year at school who have had their children's allowance withdrawn; her plans to review the situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43845/13]
View answerChild benefit is a monthly universal payment made to families with children, which assists all parents with the cost associated with raising children. Child benefit is paid to around 606,000 families in respect of some 1.15 million children, with an estimated expenditure of around €1.9 billion. Child benefit as a “universal” payment is paid in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education or who have a disability.
The Department currently notify around 48,000 customers each year that child benefit for their child has ceased because of their child turning 18 years of age. Data as to whether these children are still in education at the time of the 18th birthday are not available.
Budget 2009 provided for the reduction of the age for which child benefit is paid from under 19 years of age to under 18 years of age. This measure was implemented in full in 2011 and has resulted in savings of €79 million on an annual basis. A value for money review of child income supports, published by the Department of Social Protection in 2010, found that the participation pattern of children in education supports the 18 year age limit for child benefit. I have no immediate plans to make any changes to the age threshold for child benefit.
Families on low incomes can avail of a number of provisions to social welfare schemes that support children in full-time education until the age of 22, including;
- Qualified child increases to primary social welfare payments in receipt of either;
- The family income supplement (FIS), which is paid to low paid employees with children and is designed to preserve the financial incentive to take-up or remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might be marginally better off in employment than on social welfare payments;
- The back to school clothing and footwear allowance, which provides a one-off payment to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn.
On a more general level, the range of child and family income supports raises issues about the effectiveness and the efficiency of the supports provided to families and their children. In 2011, I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare, to recommend cost-effective solutions as to how employment disincentives can be improved and better poverty outcomes can be achieved, particularly child poverty outcomes. I am considering the Group’s report on the restructuring of child and family income supports into a more effective and efficient two-tier child and family income support system.
