Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
905. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to extend child benefit to over-18s who are still in full-time secondary education; the reason for not doing so; and the estimated cost of such a measure in a full year. [63604/21]
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 until their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to over 625,000 families in respect of almost 1.2 million children with an estimated expenditure of more than €2 billion in 2022.
Families on low incomes may be able to avail of a number of social welfare schemes that support children in full-time education until the age of 22, including:
- Increase for a Qualified Child (IQCs) with primary social welfare payments;
- the Working Family Payment for low-paid employees with children; and
- the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.
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.
As part of Budget 2022, I increased the rates for a qualified child aged under 12 by €2 to €40 per week, and for a qualified child aged 12 or older by €3 to €48 per week. These increases came into effect this month.
Extending Child Benefit in respect of full time students in second level education who are over 18 years of age would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context. The information required to accurately estimate the cost such of an extension is not available. However, each additional 1,000 single child benefit claims would cost approximately €1.68 million per year.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
