Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide clarification on the requirements which must be met in order to qualify for qualified child dependent, with specific regard to whether or not the applicant must be in receipt of child benefit payment to qualify; if so, the steps that must be undertaken by an applicant to transfer payment of same from one parent to another; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41299/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Qualified child increase (QCIs) are paid as child-related supplements to most weekly social welfare payments. QCIs are paid as supplements to weekly social welfare benefits and allowances in recognition of the need for greater incomes among benefit-dependent households with dependent children. The current full rate of payment is €29.80 per week per dependent child having increased in recent years after a considerable period of being frozen in value. The estimated expenditure on qualified child increase in 2012 is around €675 million.

QCI payments do not of themselves constitute a specific social welfare scheme and entitlement to the appropriate primary adult payment must be established in the first instance.

Social welfare payments consist of a personal rate with increases for qualified adults and children depending on the household composition. In order to be regarded as a qualified child the child must be ordinarily resident in the State (except where EU rules provide otherwise), not be in legal custody, satisfy the age condition attaching to the particular payment and normally reside with the claimant. Where children continue in full-time education, payment of the QCI can continue up to 22 years of age or up to the end of the academic year in which the child reaches 22 in the case of long-term payments as well as short-term payments that have been in payment for at least 156 days. A full rate QCI is payable where a qualified adult increase is also awarded or for those claimants who are parenting alone. A reduced rate QCI is payable for children in cases where the claimant’s spouse/partner’s income exceeds a certain limit. The upper income limit is currently set at €400 a week.

Child benefit is a universal payment that assists parents with the cost of raising children and it contributes towards alleviating child poverty. The estimated expenditure on child benefit for 2012 is around €2 billion. Child benefit payment is non means-tested and non-taxable and is payable to the parents or guardians of children. There is no specific requirement for an applicant to be in receipt of child benefit payment in order to qualify for payment of a qualified child increase.

In cases where the circumstances so warrant, arrangements may be made for a qualified adult, or another person, to receive a specified amount of a social welfare payment, including the amount payable as a qualified child increase, on behalf of the claimant, most usually where it is likely that the amount of benefit payable would not otherwise be used for the subsistence of the family unit. Details in relation to calculating a split payment are included in DSP operational guidelines available on the DSP website at this address

The application of the guidelines allows for the investigation of specific circumstances and if the Deputy wishes to have a particular case considered, he can arrange to have it brought to the attention of my Department for consideration.