Increase for a Qualified Child

Index:

Legislative Background

◊ PAYMENT OF INCREASE FOR A QUALIFIED CHILD (IQC)
Schemes where IQC is not payable
Overlapping Payments
Earnings Limit

◊ DEFINITION OF QUALIFIED CHILD
Ordinarily resident in the State
Not detained in a reformatory or industrial school
Satisfy the condition as to Age
Institution of education
Courses excluded from the definition of full-time education
Dependency or unemployment of the child not required

◊ NORMAL RESIDENCE
(1) Normally resident with his/her parents
(2) A qualified child who is resident with one parent only
(3) If the parents are separated
(4) Substantial contribution by the other parent
(5) If one parent is dead
(6) Head of the household
(7) Child residing in an Institution
(8) Refugees

Rate of Increase for a Qualified Child Payable
Full Increase for a Qualified Child
Half-Rate Increase for a Qualified Child

Legislative Background

The main legislative provisions for the payment of Increases for a Qualified Child are:-

Part I of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended, see especially Section 2(3).
Part I of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations, 2007, (S.I. 142/2007). See in particular Articles 12 and 13, and Article 83 inserted by SI 426/96, as amended.

PAYMENT OF INCREASE FOR A QUALIFIED CHILD (IQC)

An increase for a qualified child is payable in respect of each qualified child who normally resides with the claimant.

Schemes where IQC is not payable

There is no provision for payment of an Increase for a Qualified Child in the following schemes:

Family Income Supplement (the qualifying income level on which the rate of FIS is calculated varies according to the number of qualified children)
OIB Death Benefit by way of Parent's pension
Guardian's Payment (Contributory)
Guardian's Payment (Non-contributory)
Widow's and Widower's Non-contributory Pension.
(One-Parent Family Payment may be payable where there is a qualified child.)

Overlapping Payments

Where a person is a qualified child, but is also entitled to or in receipt of a Social Welfare benefit or assistance payment in his or her own right, or where an increase for a qualified adult is payable in respect of that person, the IQC cannot be paid in addition to the other benefit, assistance or allowance.

IQC is not payable where a Guardian's Payment (Contributory) or Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory) is in payment in respect of the qualified child.

The following payments are excluded from this rule:
a Bereavement Grant, Widowed Parent Grant, a grant for funeral expenses under the occupational injuries scheme, or Supplementary Welfare Allowance.

Where a IQC is in payment in respect of the summer holiday period between academic years, and the qualified child becomes entitled to a Social Welfare benefit or assistance payment in his or her own right, the IQC continues in payment and the benefit or assistance payment to the qualified child is reduced accordingly.

(See also separate guideline on " Overlapping Entitlements" .)

Earnings Limit

In the case of Jobseeker's Benefit, Illness Benefit, Injury Benefit / Disablement Benefit (Incapacity Supplement) and Health and Safety Benefit an increase is not payable in respect of a qualified child who resides with the claimant and the spouse/partner of the claimant where the spouse/partner has a weekly income of 400.00 (from January 2007) or more. Previously, the income limit was 350.00 effective from January 2005.

The spouse's/partner's income is calculated in accordance with the legislation governing the determination of a qualified adult increase.
* See separate guideline on " Increase for a Qualified Adult" .

Effective Date

This condition applies to the following schemes and is effective from January 2008. The date from which the increased limit applies is shown below:

Jobseeker's Benefit (from 27 December 2007)
Illness Benefit, Health and Safety Benefit, Injury Benefit/Disablement Benefit (Incapacity Supplement) (from 7 January 2008)

Saver Clause

The above condition shall not apply to a person who, immediately before the 19 January 2004 was entitled to or in receipt of a payment which included an increase in respect of the child.

The saver shall continue to be effective for as long as the person continues to be entitled to or in receipt of the increase in respect of the child. It ceases if there is a break of one week or more.

DEFINITION OF QUALIFIED CHILD

Section 2(3) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, (as amended) defines the term "Qualified Child".

A qualified child must:

Be ordinarily resident in the State
Not be detained in a reformatory or industrial school
Satisfy the condition as to Age

Ordinarily resident in the State

The usual abode of the child must be in the State. The Increase for a Qualified Child may be paid for a qualified child temporarily absent from the State for a particular reason, e.g. educational activities, if the Deciding Officer is satisfied that the child's normal residence remains in the State and with the claimant.
(But see " Absence from the State" Guidelines for exceptions.)

Not detained in a reformatory or industrial school

The child must not be held in legal custody.

The Increases for a Qualified Child may be paid for child detainees who are temporarily released. In such cases the onus is on the claimant to present the relevant release papers from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (or other relevant authority) before the IQC is paid.

Satisfy the condition as to Age

The upper age limit for a qualified child varies according to scheme as follows:

Scheme of Upper Age Limits for a Qualified Child
Age of child	Relevant Schemes
Under 18	All Schemes
Over 18 but within three months following completing second-level education or the Leaving Certificate, provided s/he does not qualify for a social welfare payment in his/her own right (See Note 1.)	All Schemes
Between 18 and 22 years (PROVISION 1) while the child is in full-time education (See Notes 2 & 3.)	Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, Deserted Wife's Benefit, Disablement Benefit, Family Income Supplement, Invalidity Pension, OIB Death Benefits, State Pension (Contributory), State Pension (Non-Contributory) Scheme, One-Parent Family Payment, Pre-retirement Allowance, State Pension (Transition), Long-term Jobseeker's Allowance, Widowed Parent Grant, Widow's/Widower's Contributory Pension.
Between 18 and 22 years (PROVISION 2) while the child is in full-time education (See Notes 2, 3 & 4.)	Jobseeker's Benefit Short-term Jobseeker's Allowance, Illness Benefit Injury Benefit Health & Safety Benefit Supplementary Welfare Allowance

Note 1: A person is disqualified for receipt of Jobseeker's Assistance in his/her own right if s/he left school or completed the Leaving Certificate less than 3 months previously. The disqualification is repeated if the student resits the Leaving Certificate exam on a subsequent occasion, and IQC can be awarded again for this period.

Note 2: Where a student reaches age 22 during an academic year, the Increase for a Qualified Child is continued in payment for the duration of that academic year, provided s/he remains in full-time education until then and the customer is in receipt of;
(a) a long-term Social Welfare payment or
(b) a short-term payment for 156 days or has an accumulation of at least 156 days of relevant Social Welfare payments. (* see list of relevant payments below)

Note 3: Payment of IQC will continue until the end of the academic year following the child's 22nd birthday where the customer is entitled to or is receiving a short-term payment for a period of not less than 156 days, or a combination of any of the relevant payments* (listed below) for a period of not less than 156 days, where not more than 26 weeks (52 weeks for JA) has elapsed between their current claim and their last relevant payment. All previous periods spent on the relevant payments can be combined, provided that no more than 26 weeks (52 weeks for JA) has elapsed between any 2 successive claims.

Note 4: Where a customer who in receipt of a short-term payment, does not satisfy the 156 days requirement, a IQC is payable in respect of a child who reaches 18 in an academic year up to the 30th June following the child's 18th birthday or until s/he completes the full-time day course, whichever is the earlier.

Relevant Payments

*The relevant payments for the purposes of satisfying the 156 days requirement for short term schemes are as follows:

Jobseeker's Benefit
Jobseeker's Allowance
Pre-Retirement Allowance
Farm Assist
Illness Benefit
Injury Benefit
Maternity Benefit
Adoptive Benefit
Health & Safety Benefit
Invalidity Pension
State Pension (Transition)
Survivor's Benefit
Widow(er)'s Contributory Pension
Guardian's Payment (Contributory)
Deserted Wife's Benefit
Blind Person's Pension
Carer's Benefit
Widow(er)'s (Non-Contributory) Pension
Carer's Allowance
Supplementary Welfare Allowance

Full-time Education

A person is considered to be in full-time education where s/he is attending, on a full-time basis, a course of full-time instruction by day at an institution of education.

Course of study/instruction

A course of study is a full-time day course of study, instruction or training at an institution of education.
A person is regarded as attending a course of study for:

the duration of the academic year
the period immediately following the completion of one academic year (apart from the final academic year of a course of study) up to the commencement of the following academic year.
the 3 month period immediately following the completion or leaving by that person of second level education or the completion of the Leaving Certificate Examination, whichever is the later.

Institution of education

The following are the recognised institutions of education for the purposes of the payment of a child dependant increase.
* (Please see list of courses that are excluded)

a school/college
a university
a college of a university
an institution providing a course of instruction approved by
a) the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, or
b) the National Council for Educational Awards or
c) C.E.R.T. Limited
An institution established under the Regional Technical Colleges Act, 1992
An institution to which the National Council for Education Awards Act, 1999 applies
Any institution incorporated under the Dublin Institute of Technology
Any institution to which the Local Authority Higher
An institution providing a Youthreach course
Any institution designated by the Minister for Education and Science as an institution of higher education.

Courses excluded from the definition of full-time education

The following courses are excluded from the definition of full-time education for the purposes of awarding the Increase for a Qualified Child:-

courses provided by FAS where an allowance is payable (unless it is a Youthreach courses)
courses which form part of a work experience programme
courses which arise from employment
courses which comprise in an academic year, a period of paid work experience, where such period of paid work experience is greater than the time spent receiving tuition or instruction at an institution of education
Teagasc courses which comprise a period of work experience, where more time is spent on that work experience than in receiving tuition or instruction at the institution of education.

Academic Year

An academic year is a period in which a course of study commences in one year and finishes in the next following year. This includes term vacations.

A person may be regarded as attending a course of study for the duration of the academic year or for the period immediately following the completion of one academic year, other than the final year of a course, up to the commencement of the next following academic year.

A person may be regarded as receiving full-time education for the period immediately following the completion by that person of a cycle of education, where such part finishes between the 1 May and 30 June in an academic year, up to and including the third Sunday of the next following October or an earlier date if the beneficiary so elects. However, this does not apply where a person completes the final year of his/her course, except in the case of the leaving of second level or the completion of the Leaving Certificate examination.
* See Note 1 above regarding Leaving Certificate/leaving of second level).

Dependency or unemployment of the child not required

It is not a requirement that a qualified child be financially dependent on the claimant. It is possible for a child to be in remunerative full-time employment or on a Student Summer Job Scheme and still be admitted as a qualified child.

A child in respect of whom child maintenance is being paid by an estranged parent may be still considered a qualified child. However, payment of child maintenance can determine where the child is considered normally resident under the Social Welfare code (see below).

NORMAL RESIDENCE

To qualify for payment of IQC, the child in respect of whom the increase is claimed must be deemed to be normally resident with the person who is claiming. Article 13* of S.I. 142/2007 sets out the statutory rules for determining the normal residence of a child.

(* Note - for One-Parent Family Payment, the Normal Residence rules are set out in Article 128 of S.I. 142/2007 and are slightly different. See One-Parent Family Payment guideline for details. For Child Benefit purposes the rules are also different and are set out in Article 159 of S.I. 142/2007. See Child Benefit guideline.) For Guardian's Payment (Contributory)/Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory), Death Grant by way of Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory) and Supplementary Welfare Allowance, the rules for determining with whom a child is normally resident are set out in their respective guidelines.

A child may have only one normal residence, all others being secondary.

A child shall be deemed to be:

(1) Normally resident with his/her parents

While the parents remain living together as a couple any children that they have will be considered normally resident with them.

This normally precludes any other person who resides with the child and his/her parents from claiming an Increase for a Qualified Child for that child.

Parentage is established by reference to the birth certificate of the child.

(2) A qualified child who is resident with one parent only

Where the parents of a child are living apart, the child is considered normally resident with the parent s/he is living with.

A parent who resides at home with his/her parents may opt to have the child brought up by the child's grandparents as part of their family.

Where the parent with whom the child is living has a new partner, s/he may elect to have the child considered normally resident with that partner.

See however (4) below for an exception to this rule.

(3) If the parents are separated

In separation cases, where the child is not resident with either parent, the child shall be considered normally resident with the parent who has legal custody, provided this parent is substantially maintaining the child.

Where the child is resident part of the time with each parent, the child is considered to be normally resident with the parent with whom the child resides the most.

(4) Substantial contribution by the other parent

Where

the parent with whom the child is residing is not in receipt of a Social Welfare payment (other than Child Benefit, Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory) or Supplementary Welfare Allowance)
AND the other parent is contributing substantially towards the maintenance of the child

the child may be deemed to be normally resident with the other parent, and would not be considered normally resident in any other household.

"Contributing substantially" in this context is taken to mean at least the current equivalent of the Increase for a Qualified Child.

Monetary Contribution

If the claimant is making a monetary contribution towards the maintenance of each child of at least the equivalent of the current Increase for a Qualified Child, it can be accepted that s/he satisfies the "contributing substantially" condition. Where the claimant is not currently making such a contribution but the Deciding Officer is satisfied that s/he would do so if IQC were awarded (e.g. if the claimant had previously been making this level of contribution when last in a position to do so), it may also be accepted that the condition is fulfilled.

Contribution in-kind

In some cases there may be an arrangement in operation whereby, in addition to or instead of direct monetary contribution, the claimant has care of the child(ren) for some period/s during each week e.g. regular visits by them. IQC may be payable in such cases if the cost of expenses incurred by the claimant equates to "substantially contributing" to their maintenance i.e. if the cost is at least the equivalent of the appropriate IQC rate. It will be for the Deciding Officer to consider each such case by reference to all the facts.

Only costs actually incurred by the claimant on behalf of the child(ren) which could reasonably be construed as necessary their maintenance (e.g. transport, meals, social activities, ensuring accommodation is suitable, cost of overnight accommodation where applicable, etc.) should be taken into consideration in this context.

All such cases should be dealt with sensitively and sympathetically. In cases of doubt, the Decisions Advisory Office should be contacted for advice.

(5) If one parent is dead

The child is deemed to be normally resident with the surviving parent, but only if that parent is maintaining the child.

(6) Head of the household

If the child cannot be deemed resident with either parent under the above articles s/he shall be deemed normally resident with the head of the household with whom s/he resides.

(7) Child residing in an Institution

If the person with whom s/he would be deemed normally resident under the above provisions is contributing towards the costs of the child's maintenance in the institution, then the child will be regarded as resident with that person.

Contributing towards the maintenance costs of the child in the institution is taken to mean that there is a significant level of financial support by the adult in question. Expenses incurred in buying the child clothes etc. on a regular basis, or taking the child on outings or for holiday periods, would be included in the calculation for this purpose.

(8) Refugees

A qualified child who is a refugee in the State from another country shall be regarded as being normally resident with the head of the household of which the child is for the time being a member and with no other person.

Rate of Increase for a Qualified Child Payable:

Increase for a Qualified Child may be payable at full or half-rate as follows:

Full Increase for a Qualified Child is payable:

where the claimant -

has no spouse or partner,
is separated, or
is in receipt of an Increase for Qualified Adult in respect of the spouse/partner.

Half-Rate Child Dependant Increase is Payable:

Where the claimant is living with a spouse or partner who is not a Qualified Adult and whose income is not more than the prescribed limit 400 (from January 2007) - (previously 350 from January 2005). If a claimant is in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance the limit of 400.00 does not apply.

NOTE: Prior to April 2000, half rate increase was also payable in the case of Illness Benefit, Jobseeker's Benefit, Injury Benefit, Incapacity Supplement, Jobseeker's Allowance, Pre-Retirement Allowance or Disability Allowance, where the claimant was only in receipt of a Reduced Increase for Qualified Adult because the income of the spouse or partner was calculated to be between 60 (76.18) and 105 (133.32) weekly.