How much do one parent families in Ireland get in social welfare and other benefits??

[Brendan Burgess]

Has anyone any data or worked examples on this?

One parent familes in the Republic, without any other income, where one of the children is under 5, get a One Parent Family payment of €193 + €29.80 per child

They get Child Benefit of €140 per month

They can earn up to €425 per week from working and get a reduced One Parent Family allowance.

They can get Family Income Supplement.

Brendan

 

[Urn]

So with one child you could potentially have a part time job and end up with €624 a week or €2704 a month tax free. This I think would equate to an annual taxable salary of about €47k.

Assuming part time work hours coincided with school hours, therefore no childcare costs, I am wondering why people work? And they have other benefits like medical cards, back to school allowance etc

 

[Brendan Burgess]

In Northern Ireland

If they have a child under 5, they get Income Support of £73.10 a week

They also get a child tax credit of £10 per week.


https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/income-support

The Child Benefit rate in the UK is £90 per month for the first child and £60 for subsequent children.

Once the child hits 5, they go onto the normal Unemployment Assistance rate which is also £73.10.

Brendan

 

[dub_nerd]

Why single out one-parent families? Everybody with qualifying children gets Child Benefit. Lots of welfare recipients are allowed to work limited hours, not just lone parents. It's easier to avoid child care costs as a two parent family since you don't have to depend on that magical job that pays €20k and fits in exactly with school hours. And every family below a certain threshold of income and working hours can qualify for FIS. I wouldn't dispute that welfare rates are extraordinarily high, but it is not particular to one parent families, and is actually easier to maximise with two parents.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Hi dub nerd

I am not singling them out at all. I have often referred to the very high rates of social welfare and pensions in Ireland. I don't think that I have raised the high rates being paid to single parents before.

But, on this thread, I am trying to understand how single parents are treated.

Brendan

 

[willyfones]

It would be interesting to add it all up. The HAP Rent allowance rates for a single mother with one child would be €1,250 per month in Dublin City Council, the same person working part time would be also entitled to affordable child care payments 80 euro per week if they work part-time. They also would get free Travel if they are in One Parent Family allowance as far as I know.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

They also would get free Travel if they are in One Parent Family allowance as far as I know.

Hi Willy

I have never heard that before? I don't think it's true.

You may be entitled to free travel if you are permanently living in the State and:

• You are aged 66 or over
• You are getting Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Carer's Allowance or an Invalidity Pension from the Department of Social Protection.
• You have been getting Incapacity Supplement or Workmen's Compensation with Disablement Pension for at least 12 months
• You are blind or visually impaired and meet the medical conditions for Blind Pension
• You are a specified carer for a person getting Constant Attendance Allowance or Prescribed Relatives Allowance from the Department
• 
  
• You are a widow or widower or a surviving civil partner aged 60 or over whose late spouse/civil partner held a free travel pass and who is getting one of the following payments: [most social welfare payments]
  
• You have registered for the Public Services Card when requested to do so

Brendaa

 

[Steven Barrett]

So with one child you could potentially have a part time job and end up with €624 a week or €2704 a month tax free. This I think would equate to an annual taxable salary of about €47k.

Assuming part time work hours coincided with school hours, therefore no childcare costs, I am wondering why people work? And they have other benefits like medical cards, back to school allowance etc

Except it's not tax free. The children's allowance is tax free but the one parent allowance is taxable, as is the part time work they are doing. If the accumulative amount is over €47,000 a year, that person will be paying tax at the higher rate.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...ment/taxation_of_social_welfare_payments.html

Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie

 

[TheBigShort]

Except it's not tax free. The children's allowance is tax free but the one parent allowance is taxable, as is the part time work they are doing. If the accumulative amount is over €47,000 a year, that person will be paying tax at the higher rate.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...ment/taxation_of_social_welfare_payments.html

Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie

Well that's as much as a slam-dunk post as I've ever seen. I think there will need to be some sort of inquiry into AAM, particularly with threads related to social welfare and how this little nugget was not picked up on.

 

[gipimann]

In Northern Ireland.....

Once the child hits 5, they go onto the normal Unemployment Assistance rate which is also £73.10.

Brendan

With a few exceptions, One Parent Family Payment in Ireland ceases when the youngest child reaches 7. The parent then moves to Jobseeker's Allowance.

You are correct in stating that Lone Parents do not get free travel.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

gipimann

Thanks for that correction. Interestingly it was also 7 in the North, but brought down to 5 recently.

Brendan

 

[Steven Barrett]

Well that's as much as a slam-dunk post as I've ever seen. I think there will need to be some sort of inquiry into AAM, particularly with threads related to social welfare and how this little nugget was not picked up on.

Welfare payments have never been tax free but if it is your only source of income you will be below the threshold.

When I was on the dole myself, the Revenue contacted me directly with adjusted tax credits to reflect the fact that I had been claiming welfare. The Social and the Revenue actually talk to each other!!


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie

 

[paddyd]

Just to add, widowed people with children also fall into this single parent bracket.
the widows pension also pays the weekly top-up amount per week per child, where the child is under 18. That portion is tax free, but the widows pension is also paid irrespective of the persons working income, but is taxable - until such time as their tax status changes (remarry etc). One parent credits and widows credits are also paid. The widows credit reduces over 5 years from year of deceasment.

 

[jim]

So the key point i am gathering from the above is that if you declare yourself to social welfare as being a lone parent with even 1 child you can be getting quite a tidy amount from the State for doing nothing. Is this an unfair assessment?

 

[paddyd]

you can be getting quite a tidy amount from the State for doing nothing. Is this an unfair assessment?

Yes and no.
Yes, the welfare aids to raising your family are higher for a single parent, but that's about the only 'gain'.
On the negative side, single parent family's sit at the bottom of every wealth accumulation metric you can find - sitting far behind on home ownership %, savings value, net wealth etc etc.

There's very little financial positives from being a single parent when looking at the bigger picture, but they need more financial help to raise their children to the level we aspire as a nation for all our children to be.

Some CSO stats on single parent families:
https://onefamily.ie/policy-campaigns/facts-figures/

Wealth distribution report:
https://www.tasc.ie/download/pdf/the_distribution_of_wealth_in_ireland_final.pdf

"The home ownership rate for single parents is 26.3%, which is less than half the rate for couples with children and single adults, and less than 40% of the average rate for all households (70%)

The average median value of financial assets for all households is €6,300. This means that half of all households have financial assets worth less than €6,300. For single parent households that median value is €500. This is explained in large part by the differences in the value of their savings.

The median value of savings for all respondents was €4,500, but for single parents it is €300. The average debt-to-asset ratio in the respondents is 37.7%, while the debt to asset ratio for single parent households is more than double that at 78.3%. On average 18.4% of households in the survey were classified as credit constrained, but for single parent families the rate is more than double at 42.1% "

 

[XMarks]

We should have an agency similar to the CSA in the UK who deduct maintenance from the non-resident parent's wages at source if they refuse to pay. I think it is 15% of salary per child. Most children have two parents. Why should the state pay if the non resident parent is working?

 

[Brendan Burgess]

There's very little financial positives from being a single parent when looking at the bigger picture, but they need more financial help to raise their children to the level we aspire as a nation for all our children to be.

Most people I know wait until they can afford to have children before having them.

Most people I know bought houses a long way away from "their community" to get on the housing ladder and then thought about having children.

The social welfare system has the very opposite incentives.

Have children as early as possible so that the council will provide you with your own gaff in your own community.

As XMarks point out, there is no cost to the father and no incentive for the mother to seek maintenance.

Brendan

 

[delfio]

Have children as early as possible so that the council will provide you with your own gaff in your own community.



Brendan

And they can spend all that easy welfare cash in the local chipper every evening, cigarettes, crates of beer even dope

 

[Fella]

This thread is funny , I'll probably be shot down for saying this but it's the truth , a lot of single parents are not single parents at all , I can see it in my own area and know for a fact it's happening in a friends area as a friend of mines neighbour was using my friends side entrance to enter "his single partners" house as he knew social welfare had been watching.
Off the top of my head I know of about 4 or 5 girls who are supposedly single parents and there partner stays there , I've heard the stories of how they have to hide the clothes of boyfriend because social welfare can call. I'm not interested in any one saying "why not report them etc " . But open your eyes the systems are been played , id estimate fraud accounts for over 50% of one parent family payouts.

 

[XMarks]

This thread is funny , I'll probably be shot down for saying this but it's the truth , a lot of single parents are not single parents at all , I can see it in my own area and know for a fact it's happening in a friends area as a friend of mines neighbour was using my friends side entrance to enter "his single partners" house as he knew social welfare had been watching.
Off the top of my head I know of about 4 or 5 girls who are supposedly single parents and there partner stays there , I've heard the stories of how they have to hide the clothes of boyfriend because social welfare can call. I'm not interested in any one saying "why not report them etc " . But open your eyes the systems are been played , id estimate fraud accounts for over 50% of one parent family payouts.

I completely agree with the above. Many of the 'single women' go on to have multiple children with the same father.

We waited to have children until we could afford them which was in our late 30's.