Claiming for a child dependant

Introduction

Your social welfare payment is made up of a weekly amount for yourself, called the personal rate.  You may also get an extra amount for your child called an Increase for a Qualified Child (IQC). If you have an adult dependant you may get an Increase for a Qualified Adult (IQA).

You will not get an Increase for a Qualified Child with the following payments:

• Family Income Supplement
• Dependent Parent's Pension under Occupational Injuries Benefit
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory)
• Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Widow's/Widower's (Non-Contributory) Pension

This document explains when you may get an increase in your weekly social welfare payment for a child dependant. 

Rules

To get an Increase for a Qualified Child, your child must:

• Be resident in the state
• Not be in legal custody
• Satisfy the age condition for that payment
• Live with you.  

Children under 18 years of age

A 'child dependant' is usually a child up to 18 years of age who lives with you. If your child is working you can still claim an Increase for a Qualified Child. You will not get an Increase for a Qualified Child if your child has a social welfare payment (except Supplementary Welfare Allowance) or a Health Service Executive (HSE) payment in their own right. 

Children aged18 and over

If your child is 18 years of age or over, you can continue to get an Increase for a Qualified Child for three months after he or she leaves second level education or finishes the Leaving Certificate.

If you are getting a long-term social welfare payment and your child is in full-time education, an Increase for a Qualified Child will be paid up to 22 years of age or up to the end of the academic year in which he or she reaches 22.

If you are getting a short-term social welfare payment for at least 156 days and your child is in full-time education, an Increase for a Qualified Child will be paid up to 22 years of age or up to the end of the academic year in which he or she reaches 22.  Time spent on other social welfare payments can be combined to meet the 156 days but the period between any two payments must be more than 13 weeks. The period between Jobseeker's Allowance payments must not be more than 52 weeks.

Full time education does not include training provided by FÁS where an allowance is paid or where the period of work experience is greater than the period of training or instruction or where the training forms part of an employment or work experience programme. One exception to this is YouthReach.

Continued Child Dependant Increase for 13 weeks

If you have been getting Jobseeker's Allowance or Jobseeker's Benefit for at least 12 months and a full-rate Increase for a Qualified Child, you can continue to get your Increase for a Qualified Child for 13 weeks if you take up work that is expected to last at least 4 weeks. This does not apply to seasonal work or Community Employment.

If you are eligible for a 13 week continued Increase for a Qualified Child and are also eligible for Family Income Supplement (FIS) you can choose to be paid the Increase for a Qualified Child for 13 weeks instead of FIS if this is more beneficial.

Rates

You will get the full rate Increase for an Qualified Child if you get an Increase for a Qualified Adult for your spouse/partner or you are a lone parent.

You will only get a half rate Increase for a Qualified Child if your spouse/partner has an income of over €310 a week or has a social welfare payment in their own right. If you and your spouse/partner are each getting a social welfare payment you will each get half the Increase for a Qualified Child. 

You will not get any Increase for a Qualified Child if you are claiming Illness Benefit, Injury Benefit, Health and Safety Benefit, Jobseeker's Benefit or Incapacity Supplement and your spouse's or partner's gross income is over €400.

 

Social insurance payment	Increase for a Qualified Child Half Rate (2010)	Increase for a Qualified Child Full rate (2010)
State Pension (Transition) State Pension (Contributory) Invalidity Pension Carer's Benefit Jobseeker's Benefit Illness Benefit Health and Safety Benefit Injury Benefit Incapacity Supplement Widow's/Widower's (Contributory) Pension Deserted Wife's Benefit	€14.90	€29.80

 

 

 

Social assistance payment	Increase for a Qualified Child Half Rate (2010)	Increase for a Qualified Child Full Rate (2010)
One-Parent Family Payment State Pension (Non Contributory) Widow's/Widower's (Non Contributory) Pension Deserted Wife's Allowance/Prisoner's Wife's Allowance Carer's Allowance Pre-Retirement Allowance Disability Allowance Jobseeker's Allowance Blind Pension Farm Assist	€14.90	€29.80

 

If you get an Increase for a Qualified Adult with Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA), you will get a full-rate Increase for a Qualified Child. A half-rate Increase for a Qualified Child is not payable with SWA.

Where to apply

To get an Increase for a Qualified Child you must give details about your child dependant on your claim form when you apply for a social welfare payment.  If you did not claim for your child dependant at the time you made your claim contact the section in the Department of Social and Family Affairs which pays your social welfare payment.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs provides a Lo-call telephone number, your telephone call will be charged at the price of a local call.

Lo-call: 1890 500 000