Publication
Operational Guidelines: Increase for a Qualified Child
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
The main legislative provisions for the payment of an Increase for a Qualified Child (IQC) are:
Section 2(3) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, (as amended) defines the term "qualified child".
A qualified child must:
Note: Where a customer presents at a local office, requesting an increase on any payment for an underage cohabitant, the officer will refer this to TUSLA, through the normal Children First channels. Officers are advised to consult with the department’s Designated Child First Liaison Persons for each Region for operational advice on compliance with Children First Guidance here.
The usual abode of the child must be in the State. The IQC 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 customer (see Section 4). See "Absence from the State" guidelines for exceptions.
The child must not be held in legal custody in the Oberstown Children Detention Campus, in Lusk, Co. Dublin.
The IQC may be paid for child detainees who are released from detention in Oberstown prior to their release date subject to provisions in Part 10 of The Children Act 2001 (as amended). In such cases the onus is on the customer to present the relevant release papers from Oberstown / the Probation Service (or other relevant authority) before the IQC is paid.
An IQC is payable in respect of qualified children until age 18 on all schemes where IQCs apply*.
Note: From January 2012 onwards, qualification for the One-Parent Family Payment is dependent on, among other conditions, the age of the youngest child in the family being seven or under. If a person qualifies for OFP based on this, payment of an IQC for any other child(ren) will continue until they reach 18 years, or 22 years if they are in full-time education. Most customers who no longer qualify for an OFP payment because the youngest child is aged between 7 and 13 will transfer to the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment (JST).
An IQC is payable where the child is in full-time education and the customer is in receipt of:
Where a student reaches 18 during the academic year, and the customer is in receipt of a short-term payment but does not satisfy the 156 days requirement, the IQC will continue to be paid in respect of that child up to the 30th June following the birthday or until s/he completes the full-time day course, whichever is the earlier.
Where a student reaches age 22 during an academic year, payment of the IQC is continued for the duration of that academic year, provided s/he remains in full-time education until then.
The further and higher education authorities consider a person to be in full-time education where s/he is attending a course which awards 60 ECTS credits* per annum within the traditional academic year of September to May. The number of hours per week on the course can vary significantly and there are no rules regarding the number of contact hours a student must have. Where the institution delivering the course designates this as full-time, this means the course has a full-time work-load. Please check with the relevant authorities ** for details of further and higher education courses of full-time study.
* European Credit Transfer and Accumulation (ECTS) is a standard for comparing the study attainment and performance of students of higher education across the European Union/ One academic year corresponds to 60 ECTS credits that are equivalent to 1500 – 1800 hours of study irrespective of the qualification type.
**The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) are the relevant authorities.
A course of study is a full-time day course of study, instruction or training which may take place over more than one academic year, at an institution of education.
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.
Therefore, the IQC remains in payment during school holidays, for vacation periods between college years and providing that the child does not qualify for a primary payment in her/his own right. It remains in payment for the 3 months following the completion of the Leaving Certificate examination only; this does not apply to final year of any other academic programme.
The following are the main forms of institutions of education listed in the Act of 2005 as eligible for the purposes an IQC entitlement, subject to other conditions.
1. a school/college
2. a university
3. a national university of Ireland or a recognised college Institutes of Technology
4. Colleges of Education
5. Other State-aided institutions of education (see linked list below)
6. An institution providing a Youthreach course.
Click here for a full list of institutions of education recognised by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for the purposes of providing full-time day courses of study.
The following courses are excluded from the definition of full-time education for the purposes of awarding the IQC:
An increase for a qualified child is payable in respect of each qualified child who normally resides with the customer (see Sections 3.3 and Section 4).
An IQC is payable only once, at any one time, in respect of any child.
It is not a requirement that a qualified child be financially dependent on the customer. It is possible for a child to be in remunerative full-time employment 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 as explained in Part 4.
There is no provision for payment of an Increase for a Qualified Child in the following schemes:
* A widow/er or surviving civil partner with dependent children may qualify for One-Parent Family Payment, subject to meeting the conditions for this means-tested scheme. See the separate guideline on One-Parent Family Payment for more detail.
Section 247 precludes more than one payment to, or in respect of a qualified child, for the same period, with a limited number of exceptions.
An IQC is payable on any benefit, assistance or allowance in addition to any of following payments excluded from overlapping payment rules:
Where a person is a qualified child but is also entitled to, or in receipt of a DSP benefit or assistance payment in his or her own right, an IQC cannot be paid in addition to this.
Also, an IQC cannot be paid where a person is a qualified child, but is also the subject of an increase for a qualified adult payment on another customer’s claim, for example a 17 year old spouse or civil partner of a customer on Jobseeker’s Allowance.
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 Child Benefit purposes the rules are also different and are set out in Article 159 of S.I. 142/2007. See Child Benefit guideline.
While the parents remain living together as a couple any children that they have will be deemed to be normally resident with them.
Where the parents of a child are living apart, the child is considered normally resident with the parent s/he lives with.
In separation cases, the child shall be considered normally resident with the parent who has legal custody, provided this person 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.
Where the parent with whom the child is residing is not in receipt of a social welfare payment other than:
and the other parent is contributing substantially towards the maintenance of the child,
then the child may be deemed to be normally resident with the other parent, and would not be considered normally resident in any other household.
An IQC is payable only once at any one time in respect of any child i.e. Section 247 precludes more than one payment in respect of a qualified child in respect of the same period.
"Contributing Substantially" in this context is taken to mean at least the current equivalent value of the IQC weekly rate, in money or in-kind terms. See the SW19 payments rates booklet here for details.
Where the customer is not currently making such a contribution but the Deciding Officer is satisfied that s/he would do so if an IQC were awarded (e.g. if had done so previously when could afford to), then it may also be accepted that the condition is fulfilled.
In some cases there may be an arrangement where the customer has care of the child(ren) for some period/s during each week e.g. regular visits by them. An IQC may be payable in such cases if the expenses incurred equate to 'substantially contributing' to their maintenance i.e. are at least equivalent to the current IQC rate. Only costs actually incurred on behalf of the child(ren)’s maintenance can reasonably be construed as necessary (e.g. transport, meals, social activities, ensuring accommodation is suitable, cost of overnight accommodation where applicable, etc.) It will be for the Deciding Officer to consider each such case by reference to the context and all the facts. All such cases should be dealt with sensitively and sympathetically.
The child is deemed to be normally resident with the surviving parent, but only if that parent is maintaining the child.
If the child cannot be deemed resident with either parent under the above provisions s/he shall be deemed normally resident with the head of the household with whom s/he resides.
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.
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.
For most social welfare payments, a full-rate IQC is payable if the customer is receiving an Increase for a Qualified Adult (IQA) for a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant, or s/he is parenting alone.
Only one increase is paid for each qualified child. If the customer and spouse, civil partner or cohabitant are both getting a social welfare payment, a half-rate IQC for each child may be payable to both individuals.
A half-rate increase for a qualified child is also payable when the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant has an income of between €310 and €400 a week. This does not apply to Jobseeker's Allowance (JA), Disability Allowance (DA) and Farm Assist (FA) as different income rules apply to these means tested payments. See relevant sections in scheme-specific guidelines here for more information on the calculation of family rates payable in different circumstances.
A half-rate IQC is paid with Carer's Allowance to a customer who is living with a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant. This does not apply to Half-rate Carer’s Allowance as the IQC is already included in the customer’s or their spouse/partner/co-habitant’s primary social welfare payment.
In the case of Jobseeker's Benefit, Illness Benefit (including EIB-C19), Injury Benefit/Disablement Benefit (Incapacity Supplement), Health and Safety Benefit, Carer’s Benefit, Invalidity Pension and State Pension (Contributory) an IQC is not payable in respect of a qualified child who resides with the customer and the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant of the customer where the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant has a weekly income in excess of €400.00 (from January 2007). * See separate guideline on Increase for Qualified Adult.
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.
The relevant payments for the purposes of satisfying the 156 days requirement for short term schemes are as follows: