Enhancing Employment Opportunities
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Enhancing Employment Opportunities
Disability Allowance & Blind Pension
- Introduce a tapered 50% withdrawal rate where a recipient of Disability Allowance and Blind Pension engages in rehabilitative work and has a weekly income above the current disregard of €120 a week and below €350 a week.
June 2006
Maternity & Adoptive Benefit
- Increase of €17 a week in minimum rate to €182.60.
- Increase in rate from 75% to 80% of reckonable weekly earnings.
(January 2006)
- Extra 4 weeks Maternity Benefit in 2006 and a further 4 weeks in 2007.
Rent & Mortgage Interest Supplement
- Introduce a 50% tapered withdrawal of earnings between €60 a week and €90 a week.
- Disregard childcare allowances for participants in approved training courses for the purpose of rent and mortgage interest supplement.
(January 2006)
Back to Work Allowance
- Reduce the qualifying period for access to both strands of Back to Work Allowance to 2 years on the Live Register.
- Allow periods spent on Supplementary Welfare Allowance or Direct Provision to count towards qualifying period for Back to Work Allowance.
(March 2006)
Secondary Benefits
- Extend entitlement to the retention of social welfare secondary benefits for participants in the Rural Social Scheme.
- Disregard childcare allowances for participants in approved training courses for the purpose of retention of entitlement to secondary benefits.
(January 2006)
PRSAs
- Disregard contributions to PRSAs from assessment in all means tested social welfare schemes.
(April 2006)
Back to Education Allowance
- Allow periods spent on Supplementary Welfare Allowance or Direct Provision to count towards qualifying period for Back to Education Allowance.
(September 2006)
Treatment benefit
- Introduce alternative contribution condition for entitlement to Treatment Benefit (26 paid contributions in Relevant Tax Year and previous Relevant Tax Year).
(May 2006)
Unemployment Assistance
- Abolish the assessment of Benefit and Privilege for those aged 25 or over.
(February 2006)
Supplementary Welfare Allowance
- Abolish the assessment of Benefit and Privilege for all persons aged 25 or over.
(May 2006)
Qualified Adult Allowances
- Increase the upper ceiling for entitlement to tapered QAA by €20 to €240 a week.
(January 2006)
- Increase the threshold for entitlement to full rate QAA by €11.12 to €100 a week, increase upper ceiling by €10 to €250 and reduce the number of tapered QAA bands.
(May, July and September 2006)
- Increase the spouse’s earnings disregard, as appropriate, by €11.12 to €100 a week and by €11.91 to €50 a week for Unemployment Assistance, Pre- Retirement Allowance, Farm Assist and Disability Allowance.
(May and September 2006)
- Increase of €10.80 a week in Qualified Adult Allowance for Old Age (Contributory) Pension, Retirement Pension and Invalidity Pension where the qualified adult is aged 66 or over.
- Increase of €9.30 a week in Qualified Adult Allowance for Old Age (Contributory) Pension and Retirement Pension where the qualified adult is under age 66.
- Increase of €12.10 a week in Qualified Adult Allowance for Invalidity Pension where the qualified adult is under age 66.
- Increase of €10.60 a week in Qualified Adult Allowance for all recipients of Old Age (Non- Contributory) Pension and recipients of Blind Pension where
the qualified adult is over age 66.
- Increase of €11.30 a week for all other qualified adult payments.
(All Qualified Adult Allowance increases from January 2006)
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Download Budget Factsheet 2006 in PDF