Menu
Ireland's political and cultural magazine
36 February 2016
Social welfare
Report Card
by Michel Smih
J
obseeker's allowance, jobseeker's
benefit, the one-parent-family parent
payment and disability benefit. are
the key welfare payments provided
by the State. They were reduced dras-
tically between 2009 and 2011-12 and have
been frozen since then. To restore these core
welfare payments to their 2009 level, taking
account of inflation, would require an increase
of at least €27 per week for a single adult and
€40 per week for a couple.
Although core benefits have been main-
tained, almost everything else has been
reduced.
Up to Budget 2015 there have been four
budgets, with a net reduction to the social pro-
tection budget of almost €900m. Of all the
budgets, only one saw an expansion of welfare
spending: Budget 2015 saw a €198m increase
in welfare funding, still less than the €226m cut
of the previous year. Overall, there has been a
net reduction of spending on social welfare of
4.5% since Joan Burton took over.
More generally, Budget 2016 was the fifth
regressive Budget in a row. While it was not as
regressive as in previous years and contained
some gain for everyone, there was much more
for the wealthier and far less for poor and vul-
nerable people.
While single unemployed people will gain
€95 a year, single people earning €75,000 will
gain almost ten times as much i.e. €902. In the
case of couples, the unemployed will gain €157
a year while a couple with two earners on
€125,000 a year will gain nine times as much
i.e. an extra €1,408 a year. Budget 2016 wid-
ened the rich-poor gap by €506 a year. This
measures the gap between the disposable
income of a single unemployed person and a
single person on €50,000 per annum. If com-
pared with people on higher salaries the
rich-poor gap has widened even more (cf. p.9)
The rich/poor gap has widened by €1,003 in
two years as a result of this government’s
budget decisions.
The reality of budget 2016 is that a single
unemployed adult will gain €95 per annum,
while a single person earning €75,000 per
annum will gain €902. An unemployed couple
will gain €157 per annum, while a couple jointly
earning €125,000 per annum will gain €1,400
per annum.
In 2012 under Pathways to Work labour-mar-
ket ‘programmes’ (eg in-work benefits, job
creation programmes, placement services,
training and counselling) they were strength-
ened and made mandatory, and benefits were
made more clearly dependentl on job-seeking
efforts and engagement with social welfare ser-
vices. Non-compliance of any sort can result in
sanctions – a reduction of €44 per week or a
cessation of payment for up to 9 weeks. For
instance, refusing to take an internship can lead
to this form of punishment.
The Department of Social Protection has con-
tracted two private companies to deliver
JobPath.A British recruitment firm, Seetec, has
been contracted to deliver these activation ser-
vices in the north of the country and Dublin. An
Turas Nua, a consortium of Irish-based
recruitment company FRS and the UK company
Working Links, will run the programme in the
south of the country. It is understood that each
contractor must service 25,000 long-term
unemployed people a year in their search for
employment. They will do this through a supply
chain of sub-contracted local, private and not-
for-profit, specialist organisations.
We need more scrutiny on the motivations
behind this decision and its possible conse-
quences. The explicit driver for this partial
privatisation of Irish public employment ser-
vices is the inability of existing public services
to support large numbers of long-term unem-
ployed people back into the labour market.
However, we need to be mindful that, else
-
where, such privatisation has been at least
partially motivated by the desire to implement
sanctions-driven ‘pay by result’ regimes which
many public-sector and not-for-profit organi-
sations have been reluctant or unable to
deliver. Activation policy now appears to be
moving towards a ‘work first’ model that
stresses job-search assistance with less
emphasis on education and training. In many
similar ‘work first’ and ‘pay by result’ régimes
the most vulnerable of welfare claimants
(people experiencing literacy, homelessness,
addiction, domestic-violence, and mental
health issues) are the most likely to experience
sanctions. Activisation policies have been
popular in the USA and Scandinavia since the
1970s; and have been warmly embraced by
Merkel in Germany and Cameron in the UK.
2016 ELECTION
"C"
"kept core benets but
regressively reduced
much else"
February 2016 37
Minimum Wage
“We will reverse the recent cut in the national mini-
mum wage”.
This was done; and Budget 2016 announcement of an increase of 50 cent per hour to the statutory
national minimum wage was progressive. This increase will ensure that a full-time worker on the mini-
mum wage will receive an additional €1,014 per annum in gross pay. However, the new hourly minimum
wage rate of €9.15 is more than 25% below the living wage of €11.50 per hour.
Social Inclusion
"The elimination of poverty will be an objective of this
Government. We are committed to achieving the tar-
gets in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion to
reduce the number of people experiencing poverty. A
new approach is needed to break the cycle of child
poverty where it is most deeply entrenched. We will
adopt a new area based approach to child poverty,
which draws on best international practice and exist-
ing services to tackle every aspect of child poverty".
The number of people living in consistent poverty which currently stands at 376,000 has doubled since
2008, while 1.4 million people are experiencing deprivation, an increase of 128% since 2008. There
are 700,000 people at risk of poverty, including 211,000 children, which equates to one in six children.
In other words, there is widespread poverty in Ireland.
National Employment and
Entitlements Service
“We will replace FÁS with a new National Employment
and Entitlements Service so that all employment and
benefit support services will be integrated in a single
delivery unit managed by the Department of Social
Protection. This integrated service would provide a
‘one stop shop’ for people seeking to establish their
benefit entitlements; looking for a job; and seeking
advice about their training options. It will process citi-
zen entitlements”.
FÁS was abolished and a new national education and training service SOLAS established in October
2013 with a Further Education and Training Strategy 2014–2019 published. Intreo, a new service from
the Department of Social Protection was introduced in 2012. It is a single point of contact for all
employment and income supports. Designed to provide a more streamlined approach, Intreo offers
practical, tailored employment services and supports for jobseekers and employers alike at 58
locations.
Rent Supplement
"We will progressively reduce reliance on Rent Supple-
ment, with eligible recipients moving to the Rental
Accommodation Scheme".
The current rent supplement for a single person is €520 per month and for a couple, €750 per month,
despite the fact that the cost of renting a two bedroom property in Dublin city, for example, is €1,700
per month.
Child Benefit
No reference to sensitive issue of children’s benefit
Child benefit was increased by €5 per month to €140 from January. Despite the Labour Party promise
to protect child benefit, the payment had been reduced by €10–from €140 a month per child to €130
– in Budget 2013. In 2008 it was €166 monthly.
Before the cut was made, the option of taxing or means-testing the payment was addressed after an
expert report recommended it as one of the "most feasible options for change". Many believe such
universal payments are regressive anyway.
Family income supplement threshold has been increased by €5 per week for each of the first two
children.
Free Pre-School
We will maintain the free pre-school year in Early
Childhood Care and Education to promote the best
outcomes for children and families.
In fact, free pre-school childcare will now be available for children from 3 years until they start primary
education or reach the age of five and a half years.
PROGRAMME FOR
GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT
ACTUAL PERFORMANCE
-
Social Welfare Policy Report Card
38 February 2016
Social Welfare Policy Report Card
2016 ELECTION
Fuel Poverty
“We will complete and publish a strategy to tackle
fuel-poverty”.
Increases in the weekly fuel allowance to €22.50 weekly were announced in Budget 2016. The length
of the period of payment of the winter fuel allowance was cut by 6 weeks in Budget 2012. Fuel allow-
ance is a means-tested payment designed to help pay winter fuel costs which is “paid to people who
are dependent on long-term social welfare and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs”.
According to the most recent CSO data, 12% of people were in households which had “gone without”
heating at least one time in the previous 12 months, and 8% were in households which had been
unable to afford heating at all at least one time in the previous 12 months.
Voluntary Sector
"During a time of recession and deep unemployment
the Government acknowledges the vital role of the
community and voluntary sector working in partner-
ship with local communities, State agencies and local
authorities".
The Partnership programmes, such as the Dublin Inner City Partnership, which were progressive and
well-regarded by communities have been replaced by more market-friendly institutions.
In 2012 under Pathways to Work labour-market ‘programmes’ (eg in-work benefits, job creation pro-
grammes, placement services, training and counselling) they were strengthened and made mandatory,
and benefits were made more clearly dependentl on job-seeking efforts.
A New €28m Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme was launched in April 2015 to
tackle poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion in local communities.
Welfare Fraud
“We will take a zero tolerance policy in relation to
welfare fraud, underpinned by a majoranti-fraud
enforcement drive”.
A new Anti-Fraud Strategy was published in 2014. 20 gardaí have been assigned to tackle welfare
fraud as well as new fraud prevention and detection powers granted to Social Welfare inspectors.
Approximately 3% of social welfare claims appear to be fraudulent. Hundreds of welfare recipients
have been forced to repay millions of euro in means-tested benefits after it emerged they had large
sums of undeclared bank savings.
New figures show investigations into the practice – code-named Operation Dirt – yielded some €21
million for the exchequer between 2013 and 2014. Over a million control reviews have been carried out
yielding control savings of over €460m.
Extras not mentioned in the Programme for Government
• Earnings disregard for Jobseeker’s Transitional
Payment increased from €60 to €90 per week
for existing and new recipients from January
2016.
• Increase in weekly welfare rates paid to pen-
sioners aged 66 and over announced in Budget
2016: but this is the first increase since 2009.
• Increases in the living alone allowance paid to
pensioners and people with disabilities came
into effect in January 2015.
• The upper age limit of the youngest child for
new claimants of the One-Parent Family Pay-
ments for one-parent families was reduced to 7
years on a phased basis.
• The telephone allowance was worth €9.50 per
household per month for pensioners until it
was discontinued in January 2014.
• Amendments since 2012 to the entry threshold
for the Universal Social Charge has seen
410,000 people completely exempted from the
charge and from January 2016 a further 42,500
workers will be removed.
• From January 2016, the carer’s allowance
increased from €1375 to €1700 euro annually
and is paid for 12 weeks after the death of the
person being cared for, an increase of 6 weeks.
• Home carer’s tax credit increased from € 810 to
€1,000 for 2016 and the home carer’s income
threshold increased from €5,080 to €7,200.
• An increase of €2.50 in top-up payments for
Community Employment, Rural Social Scheme,
Gateway, Job Initiative, Tús and JobBridge par-
ticipants from January 2016.
• €100 Water Conservation Grant paid to
886,400 eligible houses by mid December,
2015.
• Target set to lift 100,000 children out of con-
sistent poverty by 2020 through the
implementation of a whole-of-government
approach to tackling child poverty.
• Introduction in 2012 of a Public Services Card
to facilitate easier access to Government ser-
vices and to improve identification of
individuals at points of service. Over 1.75m
Public Service Cards issued to December 2015
with over 573,000 being used to access free
travel.
• Additional staff assigned to the Social Welfare
Appeals Office to improve processing times
with an average time now of 25.7 weeks for an
oral hearing and 18.2 weeks for a summary
decision, down from 52.5 weeks and 25.1
respectively in 2011.
• Gender Recognition Act 2015 provides for the
formal legal recognition of the preferred
gender of transgender persons.
• Universal Retirement Savings Group estab-
lished in January 2015 to consider measures
involved in constructing an efficient and effec-
tive universal retirement savings system.
• New pilot micro-credit scheme offering small
loans to social welfare recipients to reduce
dependence on money lenders.
PROGRAMME FOR
GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT
ACTUAL PERFORMANCE
-
