Minister publishes Social Welfare Bill

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs today published the Social Welfare Bill 2008 that introduces increases in social insurance rates and social assistance payments as announced in the Budget.

From January, all pensioners and carers over 66 will get a weekly increase of €7.00 in their payments, while those of working age and receiving social welfare payments will receive a €6.50 per week increase.

The weekly income limits used to determine entitlement for Family Income Supplement will be raised by €10 per week per child, giving an increase of €6 per week per child in January. The Bill also provides for the deduction of any contributions payable under the income levy in calculating weekly family income for the Family Income Supplement.

Changes have also been made to the provisions governing the Illness Benefit, Jobseeker’s Benefit and Health and Safety Benefit schemes. These relate to the duration of payment of the benefits as well as the contribution conditions for eligibility.

The Minister, Mary Hanafin, said these changes are “aimed at redressing a situation where claimants may have had only a very limited contribution record but were able to access significant benefits and to ensuring the sustainability of these social insurance schemes in the future”.

For qualified children aged 18 in 2009, there will be a half rate of payment of Child Benefit, and this payment will end 2010 onwards.

However, the Department of Social and Family Affairs said a special compensatory payment of €15 per week will be paid both in 2009 and 2010 to certain families with 18-year-olds in full-time education or with disabilities.

Commenting on the Bill, Ms Hanafin said that 2009 will see an extra €2.6 billion being allocated to social welfare, bringing the total spend to over €19.5 billion.

“The fact that we are planning for a greatly increased number of people seeking support while signing on the Live Register, means that our resources are being stretched even further in order to benefit more and more people”.

“Despite this the Government has provided for increases to well over one million recipients,” the Minister said.

However, Fine Gael social and family affairs spokeswoman Olwyn Enright said the Bill showed the Government had targeted the vulnerable in the Budget and that its "vicious cuts" will hit all poor families.

“The publication of the Social Welfare Bill is the final nail in the coffin for Fianna Fáil’s false claims that the vulnerable would be protected,” Ms Enright said.

“We have already seen both the young and the old targeted with vicious education and medical card cutbacks and Mary Hanafin has continued the trend today. The Bill hits the vulnerable with job seekers losing almost €3,000 and children set to suffer cuts in child benefit and Early Childcare Supplement (ECS).

“Over the last few year, a huge amount of exchequer funds left the country as a result of Fianna Fáil’s botched establishment of the Early Childcare Supplement [ECS]. Now it is Irish families that pay the price for Fianna Fáil incompetence with cuts in the ECS,” she added.

According to Roisin Shortall, Labour spokeswoman on social and family affairs, the Bill "represents an attack on children, the unemployed and on people with illnesses or disabilities".

Ms Shortall said that an unemployed person stands to lose about €2,600 in lost benefit due to the changes in the duration of Jobseeker's Benefit, while a parent of an 18-year-old child stands to lose just under a €1,000 in 2009 and just under €2,000 in 2010 due to the change to Child Benefit.

"This Bill is perhaps the meanest such Bill that we have seen in many years, making it harder to qualify for Job Seekers Benefit payment, at a time when unemployment is soaring and when more families are coming to rely on these very payments," Ms Shorthall said.

She continued: "Any increases in payments that are to be made are miserly and in many instances don't even keep pace with inflation. We were told that Budget 2009 would protect the vulnerable. The reality is quite different as is evident from today's Bill."