Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 October 2017
185. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if child benefit will be extended to persons over 18 years of age until full-time secondary education is completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43106/17]
View answerChild Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children 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. Child Benefit is currently paid to almost 622,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure of more than €2 billion in 2017.
Budget 2009 reduced the age for eligibility for Child Benefit from 19 years to less than 18 years. 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 current age limit for Child Benefit.
Extending Child Benefit entitlement to parents of full time students in second level education that are over 18 years of age would not be a targeted approach given the universality of Child Benefit. The adoption of such a proposal would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.
Families on low incomes can avail of a number of social welfare schemes that support children in full-time education until the age of 22, including:
- qualified child increases (IQCs) with primary social welfare payments;
- the working family payment (formerly Family Income Supplement) for low-paid employees with children; and
- the back to school clothing and footwear allowance for low income families (paid at the full-time second-level education rate).
As part of the measures under Budget 2018, the qualified child payment which is paid each week to families with children will increase from €29.80 to €31.80 for each child. This is an increase of 6.7%, and will benefit over 400,000 children.
The Working Family Payment earnings thresholds were increased by €10 per week for families with up to three children. This will particularly benefit low-income working families.
These schemes provide targeted assistance that is directly linked to household income and thereby support low-income families with older children participating in full-time education.
