MINISTER FOR Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin has insisted that the social welfare cuts of €760 million unveiled in Budget 2010 will not have a "severe impact" on welfare recipients, writes CAROLINE MADDEN

She argues that the real value of the increases given last year still exists, as prices have fallen in the meantime.

However, the Opposition has roundly criticised the cuts, with the Labour Party accusing the Government of targeting the poor "in a deliberate and calculated way".

So who exactly will be hit, and just how harsh will the cuts be?

Parents

The Government toyed with the idea of taxing child-benefit payments and also looked at introducing means-testing. It ended up dismissing both approaches as logistically and legally impossible at this time. Instead this "sacred cow" has been tackled with a blunt instrument - an across-the-board cut.

Child benefit remains universal (it is available to all parents, regardless of their income) and tax-free, but it will be €16 lower per month for each child.

From January 2010 the new monthly rates will be €150 for the first and second child in a family, and €187 for third and subsequent children.

Families dependent on a weekly social welfare payment will be compensated for this cut in full through an increase of €3.80 per week in the qualifying child allowance, which will bring it from €26 to €29.80. Low-income families in employment who receive the family income supplement (FIS) will also be compensated through an increase of €6 per child per week in the income thresholds.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs has said this will increase FIS payments by an average of €4 per child per week.

According to Hanafin, these measures will protect 420,000 children in welfare-dependent and low-income families from the cuts.

However, Opposition parties and lobby groups such as Barnardos were still highly critical of the cut. "Too many families depend on child benefit, which has been cut by €16 per child, to make ends meet for the Government to slash the rate so indiscriminately," said Fine Gael spokesman Denis Naughten.

Another cut that will hit parents is the €10 reduction in the maximum rate of maternity benefit (and adoptive benefit) from the first week of January 2010, bringing it from €280 to €270. The minimum rate will fall by €4.50 to €225.80.

Single parents will be badly affected by the Budget cuts, as the one-parent family payment (with one qualifying child) will fall from €234.10 per week to €225.80 next year. Widow's assistance will be cut from €204.30 to €196.

Unemployed

Anyone who receives welfare and is under 66 will be hit by cuts ranging from 3.5 per cent to 4.2 per cent in basic rates next year. This will equate to reductions of between €8.20 and €8.50 a week.

For those who are out of work, the standard weekly dole payment will shrink by €8.30 to €196 next year.

Furthermore, if a jobseeker under 66 refuses a job, work placement or an offer of a course, their jobseeker's allowance will drop to a reduced weekly rate of €150.

Individuals aged 20 or 21 who have no dependent children and who apply for jobseeker's allowance will only be entitled to a reduced rate of €100 per week from January. New claimants aged 22 to 24 will only receive €150.

However, those who take part in a recognised education or training course will be eligible for the full rate of €196 per week. These changes will not affect people who have made enough PRSI contributions to qualify for jobseeker's benefit.

The national housing organisation Threshold has warned that the cuts to jobseeker's allowance for under-24s will put people at risk of homelessness.

"By cutting jobseeker's allowance to a paltry level for young people, the Government is basically asking them to return to their parents' home to live," it said. "This is unrealistic for most, and will put many young people at a real risk of homelessness." Sick/disabled/carers

The sick and disabled - and those who care for them - did not escape Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan's axe on Wednesday. Rates for carers under 66 years of age will be cut by between 3.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent next year. Carer's benefit is set to fall from €221.20 to €213 a week, while carer's allowance will drop from €220.50 to €212.

The Carers Association has described this as a "huge blow" for family carers, and warned that it may be a false economy. "The cut to welfare payments for family carers will be the last straw for many who are not in a position to seek alternative sources of income due to their caring roles . . . in the worst cases, forcing carers to put relatives and family into State care," it said.

However, the recent protests staged by carers outside Government buildings calling for the half-rate carer's allowance (introduced in 2007) to be left untouched were heeded. This payment will continue to be paid to people who are full-time carers and who are in receipt of another welfare payment. Carers will also continue to receive an annual respite care grant of €1,700 next year that is not means-tested for each person they look after.

Also, the domiciliary care allowance, which is paid to help parents or guardians of a severely disabled or ill child under 16 and requiring extra care, remains unchanged at €309.50 per month.

The invalidity pension will shrink from €209.80 to €201.50, while the blind person's pension is being brought down from €204.30 per week to €196, as is the disability allowance.

The Rehab Group expressed deep concern about the effect that the cut to the disability allowance will have, as evidence shows that individuals with disabilities face an additional living cost estimated at €40 per week.

"In general, people in receipt of disability allowance spend that money on necessities, not luxuries," Rehab said. "This cut of €8.30 per week will affect the ability of the nearly 96,000 people on disability allowance to buy basic necessities such as food and clothing."

The cost of accessing medicine is set to rise considerably for many people. Those using a medical card will face a 50 cent charge for every item on prescription, while the monthly threshold for the drugs payment scheme (whereby individuals or families only pay up to a certain maximum monthly for all prescribed drugs and medicines) is being increased from €100 to €120.

Pensioners

The only group of social welfare recipients largely exempt from Wednesday's swingeing cuts was the so-called "silver revolutionaries" - pensioners - at least in relation to the State old-age pension. Having forced the Government to reverse the abolition of the universal entitlement to medical cards for over-70s last year, retired individuals were left unscathed by the Budget, although the widow's pension was cut. Ostensibly, this was because older people have experienced the smallest reduction in living costs.

Lenihan said in his Budget speech that it was because of this disparity and "in recognition of the contribution they have made to the State" that the Government decided to leave the State pension unchanged.

The contributory State pension will be maintained at the weekly rate of €230.30.

The Minister also revealed that the Government was considering severing the link between public-sector pay and pensions (for both existing and future pensioners), and instead tying post-retirement income to the cost-of-living index.

However, Lenihan said he did not intend to apply the pay cuts outlined in the Budget to existing public-service pensioners, pending the full review of public-service pensions.