Family Income Supplement

Information

Family Income Supplement (FIS) a weekly tax-free payment available to married or unmarried employees with children. It gives extra financial support to people on low pay.  You will not qualify for FIS if you are only self-employed, you must be an employee to qualify.

You must have at least one child who normally lives with you or is financially supported by you. Your child must be under 18 years of age or between 18 and 22 years of age and in full-time education.

To qualify for FIS, your net average weekly family income must be below a certain amount for your family size. The FIS you receive is 60% of the difference between your net family income and the income limit which applies to your family. For more information about net family income see ‘Rates’ below.

If you are getting FIS you may also be entitled to the Smokeless Fuel Allowance and the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.

If you think you have been wrongly refused FIS you can appeal this decision.

Your income from FIS is not taken into account in the assessment for a medical card.

Rules

FIS is a tax-free weekly payment for employees:

• Working 19 or more hours per week (or 38 or more hours per fortnight). You can combine your weekly hours worked with your spouse's or partner's to meet this condition.  You cannot use time spent in self-employment to meet this condition.
• Where the employment is likely to last at least 3 months
• Looking after one or more children and
• Earning less than a set amount which varies according to family size.

Generally the payment continues for one year and is not affected by, for example, an increase in earnings or other income in the family.

It is possible to qualify for FIS if you are getting the Back to Work Allowance. Your income must be less than the income limit set for your family size.

You cannot get FIS if you are taking part in a Community Employment Scheme or any other FÁS schemes except Job Initiative. 

You cannot get FIS if you are getting one of the following social welfare payments:

• Jobseeker's Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance
• State Pension (Transition), or Pre-Retirement Allowance.

Maintenance

A separated parent can apply for FIS once he or she meets the qualifying conditions and

• Is living with the children or
• Is wholly maintaining the ex-spouse or ex-partner with whom the children are living

Wholly maintaining means that maintenance paid by you, the FIS applicant, must be the sole income of your ex-spouse/ex-partner.

Only one FIS payment can be made in respect of any family

Paying maintenance
If you are a separated parent and paying maintenance you may qualify for FIS. To qualify you must be wholly maintaining the parent with whom the children are living. Only one FIS payment can be made in respect of any family, the parent to whom you are paying maintenance must not be getting FIS.

If you are paying maintenance as a result of a court order or legally binding agreement for a second family, the amount of that maintenance payment will not be deducted from the income to be assessed for FIS.

Getting maintenance
If you are getting maintenance, the total amount of your maintenance payment will be assessed as income for FIS. Only one FIS payment can be made in respect of any family, the parent from whom you are getting maintenance must not be getting FIS.

A parent getting maintenance for a qualified child will also have that maintenance assessed for FIS. 

If you lose your job or get reduced working hours

If your pay from work is reduced your Family Income Supplement (FIS) payment will stay the same. It will not increase. However, when your FIS payment ends you can re-apply giving details of your new reduced income. (FIS is usually paid for 52 weeks. At the end of the 52 weeks, you can re-apply for FIS).

If the number of hours you work each week is reduced to below 19 hours (38 hour per fortnight) you are no longer entitled to FIS. You should notify the FIS section if your hours fall below the minimum requirement.

If you lose your job you are no longer entitled to FIS. You must notify the FIS section.

Rates

FIS is calculated on the basis of 60% of the difference between the income limit for the family size and the assessable income of the person(s) raising the child(ren). The combined income of a couple (married or unmarried) is taken into account.

Income from any source (excluding the disregards stated below) is assessed as means, however, though there are no rules excluding the assessment of capital, the Department of Social Protection generally does not assess capital or examine your bank account details for FIS.

The main items counted as income are:

• Your assessable earnings and your spouse/partners’ assessable earnings. (Assessible earnings are gross pay minus tax, employee PRSI, Health Contribution, income levy and superannuation.)
• Any extra income you or your spouse or partner have from employment (such as pay for overtime, bonuses, allowances or commission)
• Any income you or your spouse or partner may have from self-employment
• Income from occupational pensions
• Income you or your spouse or partner may have including social welfare or HSE payments
• Rental Income from the letting of property or land (the capital value is not assessed)

The following payments do not count as family income:

• Child Benefit
• Carer's Allowance
• Guardian's payments
• Supplementary Welfare Allowance
• Rent Allowance for tenants affected by the de-control of rents
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Foster Child Allowance
• Income from casual employment by the Health Service Executive (HSE) as a home help
• Income from a charitable organisation
• Income from providing accommodation to students studying Irish in Gaeltacht areas under a scheme administered by the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Home help income and FIS
One of the conditions for entitlement to FIS is that a person must be in employment for at least 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight.

Home help income is taken into account for FIS when:

• The hours worked as a home-help are less than 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight and used to meet the number of hours required to qualify for FIS
• The spouse/partner of a FIS applicant is working more than 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight as a home help
• The FIS applicant is working more than 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight as a home help

Home help income is not taken into account for FIS when:

• The hours worked as a home-help are less than 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight and are not used to meet the number of hours required to qualify for FIS
• The spouse/partner of a FIS applicant is working less than 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight as a home help and these hours not used to meet the number of hours required to qualify for FIS

Calculating income for FIS

The Department of Social Protection calculates your assessable income and your average income over a certain period of time.

If you are paid weekly or fortnightly, your weekly income is taken as your average weekly earnings over four weeks. If you are paid monthly, your average weekly income is based on your average weekly earnings in a set two-month period. If your spouse or partner is self-employed, his or her income over the 12-month period before you lodge your claim is used to work out his or her average weekly income.

Again, to qualify, your net average weekly family income must be below a certain amount for your family size.  

FIS income limits in 2010:  

From January 2010, if you have:	And your family income is less than:
One child	€506
Two children	€602
Three children	€703
Four children	€824
Five children	€950
Six children	€1,066
Seven children	€1,202
Eight children	€1,298

 

It's important to be aware, that no matter how little you may qualify for, you will still get a minimum of €20 each week.

How to apply

To apply fill in an application form for Family Income Supplement (pdf), you can get a copy of this form in your Social Welfare Local Office. If you need help to fill in this form, the staff in your Social Welfare Local Office or Citizens Information Centre will help you.

To assist in processing your application for FIS as quickly as possible, ensure you include with your application, your latest P60 form, 2 recent payslips and a copy of your Certificate of Tax Credits for the current tax year.

Where to apply

Send your completed Family Income Supplement application form to: