5th December 2011
Brendan Howlin the Minister for Public Expenditure and reform has announced the spending measures the Government plan to cover for 2012
Here are some of the measures:
Child Benefit:
- Phase out the higher rates for third and subsequent child over two years.
- Discontinue one off grants in respect of multiple births
Back to school Clothing and Footwear Allowance
- Raise the qualifying age to 4
- Reduce rates of payment to €250 secondary school and €150 Primary School
Jobseekers Benefit
- Base payment entitlement on a five day week rather than a six day weekwhere a person is working for part of a week
- From 2013 take employment on sunday into account when determining the level of entitlement.
Farm Assist
- Amendments to means test
Redundancy and Insolvency Scheme
- The rate of employer rebate has been reduced from 60% to 15%
Fuel Allowance
- The fuel season is being reduced from 32 weeks to 26 weeks for new and existing recipients
Household benefits
- The expenditure will be reduced on the electricity/gas allowances
Late claims
- Reduce statutory backdating for late claims from 12 to 6 months for full entitlement and remove proportionate provision.
Drug payments scheme
- The monthly payment has been increased from €120 to €132
One Parent Family
- Entitlement will be restricted to cases where the youngest child is 7 years of age over the period to 2014
Rent Supplement
- Increase minimum contribution and review rent limits
Mortgage interest supplement
- Increase minimum contribution and further restrict expenditure