Proposed Child Benefit cuts will catapult more one-parent families into poverty

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Children must pay for a celtic tiger they never saw

One Family, the leading provider of specialist support services for one-parent families in Ireland , says that reports regarding the Government’s possible u-turn are very worrying. If child benefit payments are cut regardless of means this will increase already high rates of poverty in one-parent families.  Such families currently have a poverty rate of more than four times the national average according to the EU.

One-parent families have already experienced significant falls in income this year  through a combination of reduced employment opportunities and hours of work, increased difficulties in securing and providing maintenance, higher income levies at lower entry points, reduced rent supplement and through the abolition of the Early Childcare Supplement.  The abolition of the Christmas bonus will also have a very negative effect on many lone parents and their children.

Candy Murphy , Policy Manager, One Family, said ‘One Family totally opposes reported plans for an across the board cut in child benefit. Such a cut would significantly increase already unacceptably high rates of child poverty in Ireland affecting 10% of all children and a significantly higher number in one-parent families. Such a cut if introduced must be compensated for by a significant increase in targeted payments to children living in poverty.

‘One Family calls on the government to introduce a  second tier of income support for children for low income families that will be employment-neutral as recommended first by NESC[1] as far back as 2003 before any decision is made to cut child benefit.’ Ms Murphy concluded by saying: ‘2010 is the European Year against poverty and social exclusion – will catapulting more vulnerable families into poverty be Ireland’s main contribution towards this year?’

(1] In its report “An Investment in Quality: Services, Inclusion and Enterprise ” (March 2003) the National Economic and Social Council ( NESC) stated that:

“the Council believes that Ireland has still not found the best package of income support for children in low-income households. The CDIs (child dependent increase – now Qualified Child Allowance) are steadily losing their value for poor households; CB (Child Benefit )is not solely focused as a instrument for tackling child poverty – while it undoubtedly relieves some of the economic pressures in poor households, the scale of resources that would need to be channelled through it for it alone to eliminate poverty is not feasible; FIS (Family Income Supplement) benefits only children whose parents are in employment and the same is true for child additions to tax exemption limits; there are difficulties and delays that arise as families attempt the transition from receipt of CDIs to receipt of FIS. The Council is also aware that, while parental employment has been the single most important cause of the welcome reductions in child income poverty over the last decade, the same strategy is unlikely to be as successful in rescuing the significant number of children who remain in poverty. The design of a second tier of income support for children in poor families that would be neutral with respect to the work/no-work divide, therefore, has particular merit in the light of Ireland ’s new circumstances.” (p331)

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The overwhelming majority of calls to the askonefamily national helpline this January related to the recession, job losses and money worries.   The helpline experienced a 300% increase in calls in comparison to 2008 during the weeks of a national advertising campaign.

One Family has been in existence for 37 years and provides a range of services for one-parent families in Ireland .  Services include parenting and skills training, counselling and parent mentoring and a wide range of information supports.

Budget will do nothing to reduce poverty in one-parent families

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Budget will do nothing to reduce poverty in one-parent families

One Family, the leading provider of specialist support services for one-parent families in Ireland, says today’s Budget will do nothing to address already high rates of poverty in one-parent families. Such families currently have a poverty rate of more than four times the national average. One Family welcomes the introduction of the free one-year early childhood and education year which will bring benefits to all children especially those in low income families. However, the organisation highlighted the falling incomes experienced by one-parent families in Ireland . This occurs through a combination of reduced employment opportunities and hours of work, increased difficulties in securing and providing maintenance, higher income levies at lower entry points, reduced rent supplement and through the abolition of the Early Childcare Supplement. The abolition of the Christmas bonus will also have a very negative effect on many one parent families.Candy Murphy , Policy Manager, One Family, this evening said: “While we recognise that hard choices had to be made any reduction in income going into a one-parent family home will have very negative effects. The abolition of the Early Childcare Supplement will mean a significant drop in income for lone parents on low incomes.’ Ms Murphy continued: “We must ensure that these income cuts are not reinforced by a reduction in opportunities for lone parents to progress from welfare into work, education or training. One Family calls on the Government to prioritise the maintenance and development of services for those most distant from the labour market, including lone parents, to include accessible training and education services, housing and childcare support and through ongoing support for innovative interventions such as One Family’s very successful New Futures programme’. The overwhelming majority of calls to the askonefamily national helpline this January related to the recession, job losses and money worries. The helpline experienced a 300% increase in calls in comparison to 2008 following a national advertising campaign. One Family has been in existence for 37 years and provides a range of services for one-parent families in Ireland . Services include parenting and skills training, counselling and parent mentoring and a wide range of information supports.

Lone Parents and Employment What are the Real Issues

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A new research report from One Family, the leading provider of specialist family support services to one-parent families in Ireland, was launched this morning by Mary Hanafin, Minister for Social and Family Affairs at a unique forum of social partners in Dublin.

The report entitled: ‘Lone Parents and Employment: What are the Real Issues?’ is the first nationally representative study of One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) recipients in Ireland and analyses data from over 1600 respondents.

Key Findings

Candy Murphy , Research & Policy Manager with One Family, was the principal researcher and author of the report and in her address at the launch she summarised the results into three key findings:

Firstly, she identified that the study clearly demonstrates the high level of motivation among lone parents on the OFP to participate in employment. The vast majority of those surveyed (84 per cent) are currently working, looking for work or engaged in education or training. The study highlights how pathways are required to support lone parents to pursue their career plans and to achieve sustainable employment.

Secondly, balancing work and parenting is a challenge. For lone parents, their participation in employment is not at the expense of parenting but rather is something that must be accommodated with an important parenting role.

The third key finding she highlighted was that the results demonstrate that lone parents are not a homogenous group but are highly diverse with differing needs and experiences. Three clear subgroups of lone parents were identified: older parents, parents from new communities and male lone parents.

Policy Context

The context in which the research was undertaken is one in which the Irish Government has set out a proposal to change the way the state provides welfare supports to lone parents. These reforms will among other things incorporate a requirement to be available for work when the youngest child reaches a certain age, yet to be specified.

Such policy reform is taking place within a growing Irish and international policy climate that supports greater ‘activation’ or labour market engagement of those of working age most reliant on social welfare, including lone parents. The results of this study will inform this debate.

Key Recommendations

The study recommends the development and implementation of a 4 part strategy to support lone parents into sustainable employment. This strategy includes:

  • Actions to reduce child and family poverty
  • Support for a wider range of education, training, development  and employment options
  • Actions to enable lone parents to successfully balance employment and parenting
  • Building up a stronger picture of needs of identifiable subgroups

Ms Murphy calls on the Government to continue with its plans for reform, but she advises, ‘Rather than pursuing a compulsory approach, we strongly recommend that this activation process be voluntary, building on the strong motivation to work found in the study and accompanied by a package of supports, as is the situation in other countries that have adopted a similar approach.’

She goes on to outline that ‘These supports must include greater access to affordable, quality childcare for lone parents, the removal of the rent supplement poverty trap and support for greater access to education, training and qualifications, in order to succeed. The report spells out in detail how such supports should be rolled out ’.

Fiona Weir, Chief Executive of One Parent Families|Gingerbread, UK, said at the conference that similar proposals for compulsory activation in the UK are being strongly opposed until the proper supports are in place and the proposals are piloted and the results analysed.

“The imminent welfare reform changes in the UK will pile pressure on lone parents, at a time when the labour market is creaking under the strain of growing unemployment. This is the wrong policy at the wrong time and it is lone parents and their children who will lose out.

I would hope that the Irish Government will not go down this route but will rather engage in a positive way to support lone parents in moving into sustainable employment”.

Responses from Social Partners

The launch of the research report was followed by a panel discussion, chaired by Ms Mary Doyle, Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Taoiseach, involving a unique forum of representatives from the social partners, including IBEC, ICTU, DSFA, CDVEC and FÁS. Representatives from these organisations who all have a stake in how lone parents can be supported into employment outlined their response to the research and indicated what actions their particular organisations are taking to address the findings.

Karen Kiernan, Director of One Family concluded proceedings: ‘One Family are already working to help build the pathways required to support lone parents to enter and progress into sustainable employment. We look forward to working with our partners in progressing the study’s proposals and in helping lone parents to achieve their aspirations with associated benefits for them and their families.’

ENDS

For more information or for interviews please contact:

Candy Murphy, Research and Policy Manager, One Family, 087 2933180, or

Paul Kelly, Communications Manager, One Family, 086 8218465

Notes to Editors:

  • A summary of the report can be found on our website here.
  • The full report is here.

The research was funded by the Combat Poverty Agency under their Poverty Research Initiative.

The research was assisted by the Dept. of Social and Family Affairs.

Speakers at the seminar included:

  • Candy Murphy, Research and Policy Manager, One Family
  • Fiona Weir, Chief Executive, One Parent Families | Gingerbread, UK
  • Helen Faughnan, Head of Family Affairs Unit, DSFA
  • Ann Gilton, Manager, FÁS Social Inclusion Unit
  • Cathie Hogan, City of Dublin VEC
  • Conor Farrell, Research Officer, Social Affairs, ICTU
  • Finola McDonnell, Senior Policy Executive, IBEC


Case studies:

Rent Supplement

The research indicates that the current practice of administering Rent Supplement is a major barrier to lone parents in their attempts to gain employment due to the significant loss of benefit once the parent starts to increase their hours in work.

Karen is a 39 year old Irish woman who has been on the OFP for nine years and she has been living in private rented accommodation receiving Rent Supplement. She has two children now aged 12 and 10 years old. Over the past eight years Karen has been engaging in adult education with a view to progressing to a well paid job that can move her off social welfare. Having started with parenting courses in One Family, Karen moved to attain a First in a degree course from NUI Maynooth which was achievable as it was offered on a modular basis and she accessed a scholarship from Bank of Ireland .

Karen’s difficulty now is that she cannot find a job that pays enough to cover her childcare costs and that will compensate for the huge loss in her Rent Supplement that would be immediately implemented on starting work. This poverty trap means that work would not pay for her and she is unable to progress.

New Communities

The research indicates that lone parents from new communities tend to be relatively highly educated and highly motivated to work. Poor English and lower levels of family support and health are challenges for them.

Ada is a 34 year old Nigerian woman with two children who has been on the OFP since 2003 since coming to live in Ireland . She has a degree in psychology and many years experience of working in a bank in Nigeria gaining regular promotions.

After acquiring residency, Ada tried unsuccessfully to gain employment in banks or insurance companies but was consistently unsuccessful at gaining interviews for even entry level jobs in an Irish bank. She believes that her name, Irish address and country of origin worked against her. During this time she kept busy undertaking various training courses in NUI Maynooth and with FAS, and undertook part-time waitressing work to supplement her social welfare payments.

Ada is currently pursuing a Masters in HR whilst participating on a Community Employment Scheme. Her goal is to get experience working in an Irish office environment, progress to get a better job, get her Masters, and integrate in Ireland .

Recession worries increase calls to one-parent family helpline

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A leading national support organisation for one-parent families, One Family, has experienced an influx of calls to its helpline as the recession deepens.  With escalating calls on social welfare entitlements and redundancy, One Family has launched an advertising campaign to alert lone parents to the availability of the organisations helpline.

The askonefamily National Helpline for all members of one-parent families was established in 2004 and operates from One Family’s office in Dublin handling nationwide queries about issues affecting lone parents.  Operating from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, the askonefamily National Helpline can be contacted by Lo-call 1890 66 22 12 or by emailing support@onefamily.ie.

Karen Kiernan, Director, One Family said ‘One-parent families experience a range of issues and it can be confusing working out just where to go to get advice. Callers to the askonefamily National Helpline live in a variety of types of one-parent families and circumstances and range from the single mums and dads parenting alone to the separated and divorced parents who are sharing parenting.  We also receive calls from friends and relatives as well as professionals working with one-parent families.  The helpline service is confidential and staff are knowledgeable and supportive.’

Callers to the askonefamily National Helpline look for information, support and referral on a diverse range of issues, from queries about social welfare benefits to family law issues, from childcare and parenting to returning to work or education.

The nationwide radio and print advertising campaign, devised in conjunction with McConnells Advertising, aims to raise awareness that parenting alone can stretch one-parent families but that help is available.

‘We are aware that our clients are concerned about proposed forthcoming Government cuts some of which are  specific to lone parent income supports.  Many lone parents wish to enter the workplace but without affordable and available childcare supports are caught in a poverty trap and are seeking guidance and support from One Family’, concluded Karen Kiernan, Director, One Family.

One Family has been in existence for 36 years and provides a range of services for one-parent families in Ireland .  Services include parenting and skills training, counselling and parent mentoring and a wide range of information supports.

Editors note:

Facts about one-parent families:

  • In Ireland 1 in 8 people live in a one-parent family (Census 2006)

·                    1 in 6 families are a one-parent family (Census 2006).

·                    1 in 5 children live in a one-parent family (Census 2006).

·                    18% of all families or 190,000 families in Ireland today are  one-parent families.

·                    One-parent families are at greater risk of poverty than most other families. You are 4 times more likely to live in poverty if you live in a one-parent family (EU-SILC 2006).

Press queries to:

Nora Lucey, Communications Manager, Tel. 01 662 9212, 086 2370029 or

Karen Kiernan, Director, One Family Tel. 01 662 9212,  Tel. 086 8509191.

Budget 2009 must not neglect Ireland’s most vulnerable families

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One Family, the leading provider of specialist support services for one-parent families in Ireland, today 19 September 2008 launched its Pre-Budget Submission 2009. At a time when cutbacks are inevitable One Family calls on the Government to ensure that those already experiencing high levels of poverty and social exclusion are not asked to also carry the costs of the economic slowdown. The organisation highlighted the already rising levels of poverty experienced by one-parent families in Ireland with 33% of lone parent households living in poverty; a rate more than 4.5 times the national average.
Candy Murphy, Policy Manager, One Family today said: “Many lone parents contact us because they are having real difficulty making ends meet for their families. Often parents find that social welfare benefits are simply too low to keep their families out of poverty. Meanwhile many lone parents want to go back to work or education but cannot afford the childcare and other costs that go with that decision. They are left in a catch-22 position and it is the family that suffers.”
Ms Murphy continued: “The government has stated its desire to reduce poverty rates for lone parents and their children and to remove barriers to employment for this vulnerable group. We are today calling on the government to institute immediate changes in order to start to make this a reality in 2009.”
One Family’s Pre-Budget Submission 2009 calls on the Government to include measures that will raise the income of one-parent families, increase payments to children living in low income households and remove barriers to employment and education for lone parents.
Importantly in the light of ESRI expectations that the economy will return to a growth path in the not too distant future, One Family also calls on the government to adopt a longer term strategy aimed at  significantly reducing poverty rates among one-parent families. The aim of this strategy would be to reduce poverty rates among one-parent families to 2% by 2012. The key elements of this strategy are increased educational provision; reform of lone parent state reports in a manner that supports choice and opportunity; greater access to social housing; and provision of the medical card for children.
To compliment the work-related programme of reforms, One Family also calls for such a strategy to support better work-life balance initiatives that do not result in loss of income; to fund parenting supports; and to ensure better access to family supports.
One Family is particularly calling on the Government in Budget 2009 to:
  • Increase the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) by €16 per week to €213.80
  • Increase the Qualified Child Allowance to €32 per week (from €24/week) and introduce significant increases in  the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance
  • Provide real supports for lone parents wishing to increase their involvement in the labour market including an increase in the earnings disregard for OFP to €500/week, an increase in the income limit for Family Income Supplement and introduce disregards for childcare costs in calculating eligibility to Rent Supplement as this is a significant poverty trap.
One Family Director Karen Kiernan said: “Lone parents and their children represent a group in our society which is experiencing very high levels of poverty and social exclusion. Particularly in a time of economic difficulty the state needs to ensure that this vulnerable group do not slip further into poverty. In addition urgent reform is needed to remove barriers and support lone parents who wish to enter, remain in and progress in employment.”
ENDS
For further information please contact
Karen Kiernan, 01 662 9212/ 086 850 9191