Big boost to Christmas bonus and respite grant
Child benefit up and carers get extra allowance but no rise for jobseekers
THE Christmas bonus has been restored to three- quarters of a full week’s welfare payment – which means a pensioner will get more than €170, and a jobseeker more than €140.
The bonus will be paid to some 1.23million people on December 8 at a cost of €197million.
The annual bonus was abolished by the Fianna Fáil-led government in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis.
The Labour Party reinstated a quarter of it in last year’s budget but the Tánaiste boosted that to 75 per cent yesterday.
A jobseeker receiving €188 a week will get an extra €141 at Christmas, while a pensioner on a weekly rate of €230 will receive a bonus of €172.70.
The respite care grant which was slashed in 2012 has also been restored to its previous level of €1,700. Some €30million is being set aside to fund it and it will now be know as the Carer’s Support Grant.
The grant was cut by a whopping €325 three years ago and the Government hopes restoring it will boost the Coalition’s ‘humanity’ rating ahead of the general election.
The annual grant is paid to more than 77,000 families, of whom 20,000 receive no other support.
And the fuel allowance is to get a €2.50 boost a week to €22.50.
However, apart from the €54 per child increase in child benefit and the Christmas bonus – which were well flagged in advance – there were no other significant sweeteners for those on social welfare.
There was no increase in jobseeker’s allowance, despite Labour delegates voting at conference earlier this year for a full reinstatement of the benefit for those under 26.
Joan Burton said yesterday she was ‘very happy’ to restore the Christmas bonus: ‘The significance… is incredibly important in the lives and homes of people who rely almost exclusively on a social welfare payment for support.
‘I can recall as a child when the bonus was i ntroduced by Charles Haughey and I noticed how important it is in people’s lives.’
Under the new bonus plan, a couple on the non-contributory pension personal rate of €438 will receive €328 this December.
A couple with four children in re- ceipt of jobseeker’s allowance will receive a bonus of €324.
A carer under the age of 66 will receive a payment of €153.
‘Unemployment has declined for 12 successive quarters, and that means jobseeker payments are falling and we can use that money in other ways,’ said Ms Burton.
‘My focus is in trying to ensure that we can improve things for every person and not just a few. The bonus is a welcome assistance to many groups at a financially stressful time of year.’
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said the Government was ultimately responsible for cutting the respite grant in the first place. She said: ‘Cuts to home help hours, child benefit, disability payments, carer payments, maternity benefit, the respite care grant, the fuel allowance, back to school payments, a charge for domestic water. That is your record.’
Further measures announced yesterday will see carers get an allowance for six extra weeks after the death of those they cared for, bringing the allowance to 12 weeks in total.
Catherine Cox of the Carer’s Association welcomed the measure and said it will have a ‘real impact on family carers at a particularly challenging time in their lives’.
However, she said the organisation is disappointed to note that there is ‘no announcement in the Budget in relation to replacing the mobility allowance and motorised transport schemes, which were closed to new applicants in 2013, and no significant new funding for community-based care alongside the €300million announced for capital investment in
Real impact on carer’s lives
HSE- run l ong- stay residential centres’.
Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on Social Protection Willie O’Dea said that reductions to household income ‘won’t be rectified by the measures announced’ yesterday.
He said lone parents have been ‘forgotten by this Government’.
Adding that ‘ the change to the eligibility criteria to qualify for the One Parent Family Payment was a particularly callous move’ and was opposed by Fianna Fáil.
‘There is little in the budget that lone parents can take comfort from. The €5 increase in child benefit, while welcome, will not offset the loss of this payment,’ he said. ‘Even after this increase this payment will still be €10 less than it was in 2010 when Fianna Fáil was in government.
‘Furthermore the increases in the thresholds for Family Income Supplement (FIS) are not sufficient enough to take account of the increase in the national minimum wage.’
The Family Income Supplement is a weekly tax-free payment which gives extra financial support to lower paid employees with children.
Tánaiste Joan Burton said yesterday that €18million will be provided to increase the thresholds and that the supplement ‘ preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she were unemployed and claiming social welfare’.
She said the measure will benefit nearly 60,000 families and more than 131,000 children, including an additional 1,500 households and 3,365 children becoming eligible for the supplement.
Mr O’Dea said: ‘The heavily spun gimmicks in today’s budget are unlikely to convince anyone living in t hese households or anyone concerned about their welfare.’