Impact on the savage 16 cutbacks

1. Widow's/widower's pension: New claimants no longer to be eligible either for half-rate payment of disability or unemployment benefits where the recipient was already in receipt: ALREADY REVERSED.

2. Lone parents payment: Lone parents who took up a job lost the payment if they earned more than €293 a week: AMENDED

3.Crèche supplement: Discontinued: AMENDED

4.Diet supplement: To be phased out: AMENDED

5.MABS supplement: A special supplement assisting people supported by the Money, Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS) in brokering deals with creditors was scrapped: REPLACED

6.Rent/mortgage supplement: Changes meant if one member of a couple was in full-time employment both would be excluded from claiming the supplement: REFERRED FOR REVIEW TO SOCIAL PARTNERS

7.Child dependent allowance: Entitlement discontinued where the claimant's spouse/partner had a gross weekly income in excess of €300: AMENDED

8.Disability/unemployment benefit: The threshold increased from €88.88 to €150 weekly: NO CHANGE

9. Unemployment and health and safety benefit: The number of paid contributions required increased from 39 to 52: NO CHANGE

10. Restrictions on unemployment benefit: The maximum duration reduced from 390 days to 312 days if a person had fewer than 260 PRSI contributions: NO CHANGE

11. Back to Education Allowance: The qualifying period increased from six months to 15 months. AMENDED

12, 13 and 14. Rent Supplement: Health boards could refuse rent allowance in cases where the applicant had not already been renting for a period of six months and where people turned down offers of local authority accommodation or left local authority accommodation without reasonable cause. There was also to be a more systematic assessment of claimants by local authorities: AMENDED

15.Unemployment/Disability payment: An increase in the period where claims are linked with a previous claim from 13 to 26 weeks: NO CHANGE

16. The contribution of recipients of Supplementary Welfare Allowance/ Rent/mortgage supplement towards accommodation increased by €1 to €13 per week: NO CHANGE