Operational Guidelines: Increase for a Qualified Adult

The main legislative provisions for the payment of an Increase for a Qualified Adult are:

• Part I of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended) hereinafter referred to as the ‘2005 Act’, see especially Section 2(2), and
• Section 297 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended),
• Part I of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations, 2007, (SI 142/2007) (as amended), especially articles 6 to 11

An Increase for a Qualified Adult (IQA) is payable in respect of a person who satisfies the definition of a qualified adult set out in Section 2.2 or Section 188 of the 2005 Act and who is wholly or mainly maintained by the customer. An IQA must be payable on the scheme and some schemes have additional rules.

State Pension (Non-Contributory) scheme and Blind Person's Pension are examples of those schemes with additional rules. DOs should also refer to the relevant guidelines for guidance when dealing with IQA applications for these schemes.

Persons in respect of whom an IQA can be paid

• a spouse (husband or wife) / civil partner / cohabitant – includes those married, divorced or whose marriage or civil partnership has been dissolved
• a person over 16 years of age who resides with and cares for a qualified child of the customer, and is wholly or mainly maintained by the customer. See Wholly or mainly maintaining - carer of children below.

Note: Where an application for an IQA is made in respect of an underage cohabitant, it may be necessary to consult with one of the Department’s Designated Liaison Persons who may refer the case to TUSLA.

The Children First Guidelines and the list of Designated Liaison Persons for each Division can be accessed here

Wholly or mainly maintained – means-tested schemes

For the purposes of Jobseeker's Allowance (JA), Disability Allowance (DA) and Farm Assist (FA) payments a person is regarded as being wholly or mainly maintained by the customer where they are one of a couple (as defined in the Act), and live together as generally understood in terms of an ongoing personal relationship i.e. the relationship is intact and the individuals are mutually committed. Articles 7(2) and 7(6) of SI 142/2007 refer.

As (JA), (DA) and (FA) are subject to means tests determined by household income, all income received by the customer and their spouse/civil partner or cohabitant is assessable as household means unless otherwise prescribed in legislation. Part 2 of Schedule 3 of the ‘2005 Act’ and article 7 of S.I. 142/2007 refers. See the scheme-specific operational guidelines and means guidelines for guidance on the calculation of a household means for these payments.

For all other means tested payments, the customer’s spouse/civil partner or cohabitant must have income of less than €100 per week in order for them to be deemed wholly or mainly maintained by the customer. The customer’s spouse/civil partner or cohabitant’s income is calculated in accordance with article 8 of S.I. 142/2007 as set out article 7(1) of S.I. 142/2007.

Wholly or mainly maintained – contribution based schemes - income limit

A spouse/civil partner/cohabitant of the customer is only regarded as being wholly or mainly maintained by the customer, where that person’s weekly income, calculated as shown in "Calculation of Weekly Income" , does not exceed €100 per week. When this limit applies, a full rate of increase for a qualified adult rate is payable. If the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant’s weekly income exceeds this limit but is less than or equal to €310.00 per week, a lower (tapered) rate of increase is payable.

Wholly or mainly maintaining - separated, financially dependent, ex-partner

Where a married couple have separated or are divorced or where a civil partnership has been dissolved, the customer's ex-spouse or ex-civil partner may be regarded as a qualified adult where s/he:

• is not cohabiting with another person and
• does not have a weekly income in excess of the specified limit, and
• is in receipt of weekly maintenance from the customer at least equal to the current rate of Increase for a Qualified Adult for Jobseeker's Allowance purposes (for current rates, see Rates Booklet, SW19.)

Wholly or mainly maintaining - carer of children

A person over 16 years who has the care of one or more of the customer's children, may be regarded as being wholly or mainly maintained by the customer for the purposes of a Qualified Adult Increase, in certain limited circumstances. The QA must co-reside with the customer, to provide support with childcare, and must not have an income in excess of €100 per week. The customer must be single.

The child who is in the care of this person must be a qualified child of the customer, i.e. a child in respect of whom a child support payment (formerly known as IQC) is payable to the customer.

An example of this form of co-resident relationship could apply to situations where an older child - or another relative - of a widowed or a single parent, is caring for the customer’s younger children.

A customer’s entitlement to payment of an IQA in respect of a non-EEA spouse/civil partner/cohabitant should be determined in exactly the same way as if the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant were an EEA national.

IQA - where a cohabitant is an International Protection Applicant

An IQA is payable provided that the normal conditions for payment of an IQA are satisfied. The person being considered as a qualified adult does not need to have a right to reside in the State.

IQA - where an International Protection application has been rejected

An adverse decision on an application for International Protection may be appealed. If an appeal fails, a Deportation Order is issued. The applicant may then appeal this decision.

The IQA remains payable while the above procedures are in process, provided the remaining conditions continue to be satisfied.

Note: The subject of a qualified adult increase does not need to satisfy the habitual residence condition.

• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who is employed or self-employed and/or who has a gross income from any other source that exceeds the relevant limit is not admitted as a qualified adult
• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who is in receipt of a social welfare payment in his/her own right other than one of the following social welfare payments:

a) Supplementary Welfare Allowance

b) Child Benefit

c) COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment under section 68L or the pandemic unemployment payment under section 202

d) Disablement Benefit

e) Death Benefit in respect of an Orphan

f) Domiciliary Care Allowance

g) Half-rate Carer’s Allowance

h) Guardian's Payment (Contributory)

i) Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory).

• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who is receiving a Working Family Payment (WFP) while the customer is in receipt of a Jobseeker's Allowance, Jobseeker's Benefit, or Farm Assist payment
• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who is disqualified from receiving Jobseeker’s Benefit or Allowance because of involvement in a trade dispute
• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who receives an allowance for attending an approved course of training provided by or on behalf of Solas or an Education and Training Board, and whose allowance is related to the rate of a previous Jobseekers payment
• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant in receipt of a Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) training allowance
• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant of a Jobseekers Allowance (JA) customer who is participating in a Community Employment (CE Scheme) which commenced on or after 1 January 2023. (S.I. No. 128/2023)
• a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant in receipt of an allowance in respect of:

a) Back To Education Allowance (BTEA) scheme

b) Back To Work Allowance (BTWA) scheme

c) Back To Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) scheme

d) Part-Time Job Incentive Scheme, or

e) JobBridge (the national internship scheme)

Note: A spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who is participating in the Community Employment (CE) scheme, TÚS, the Rural Social Scheme (RSS) or Gateway CAN be admitted as a qualified adult provided s/he meets the other conditions for qualification (i.e. is wholly or mainly maintained by the customer, with a weekly income (from any source) under the under the prescribed limit, for example a spouse earning under €100 a week on the CE course).

The increase for a qualified adult is generally not paid to a spouse or civil partner who is absent from Ireland or in prison. However, there are limited exceptions to this rule where the increases for qualified adult and qualified children may be paid.

Please see the 'Absence from the State' and the ‘Payment Related Issues’ guidelines for details of schemes that have limited exceptions to these rules.

The weekly income of a qualified adult of a customer in receipt of a contribution-based benefit is calculated in the following manner:

Earnings as an employee

The gross income figure is used, no deductions are allowed in respect of, for example, tax, PRSI, VHI, superannuation and the Universal Social Charge (USC) etc.

• Where earnings are received at monthly intervals, the weekly average over the previous 2 months is taken.
• Where payment is received weekly or fortnightly, the weekly average over the previous 6 weeks is taken.

Note: The Regulations allow a Deciding Officer to choose another period to calculate the average weekly income of a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant where this appears more appropriate. (For example, if the standard period was unrepresentative because of sickness or unusual overtime earnings, a longer period would be chosen. Or if the employment has just started, the current earnings are assessed).

Calculation of earnings in respect of a qualified adult who is on paid/unpaid leave from employment

Where the qualified adult avails of either paid or unpaid leave, the estimate of gross weekly income should reflect the level of income likely to be received by the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant in the coming year.

Where this information is not available, income for the coming year should be estimated by reference to income in the past 52 weeks to the end of the leave period.

Example:

While employed the qualified adult has a weekly income of €400.00. S/he takes Term Time Leave for 13 weeks from 1 June 2024. In order to ascertain the amount of earnings which s/he is likely to receive in the 52 weeks from the start of the leave, her weekly income should be multiplied by 39 (52 - 13) and divided by 52:

€400 x 39 = €15,600/52 = €300.00. IQA is payable at a tapered rate in this case as the gross income of the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant does not exceed €310.00.

This approach ensures that, irrespective of whether the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant opts to take paid or unpaid leave, e.g. Term-Time, Parental Leave, Special Unpaid Leave, leave from employment, unpaid Maternity Leave, there is no difference in the way the customer is treated for IQA purposes. It also ensures that a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who decides to forego salary for the duration of the leave period, is not being treated more favourably for IQA purposes than a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant who opts to have his/her salary spread over 52 weeks.

Income from qualified adult’s self-employment (where customer in receipt of a contributory-based payment)

Weekly income from self-employment is estimated by reference to the income received in the last complete tax year i.e. annual income divided by 52.

In the main, income from self-employment should derive from an SW Inspector’s report. Every report should summarise the gross income less allowable, work-related expenses for the 12-month period prior to the investigation in order to arrive at the net income for that period. Drawings should be assessed if this figure is higher than the net profit reported. A report should outline the documentation examined to support the assertion as presented so that it is clear to a Deciding Officer how the final assessment has been arrived at.

Where an inspector forms the view that the level and volume of trade has remained consistent during the preceding year, it is reasonable to assess the same level of income for the succeeding year. This approach also holds true in cases where the level of trade, although not constant, is maintained at a steady pace over the year.

If the income and expenditure accounts for the previous 12 months demonstrate an incremental and sustained downturn over a period of time; the projected net income for the succeeding 12 months should take account of this and be reflective of the diminishing trade on a proportionate basis.

Note:

(1) The gross income figure is used - i.e. total receipts less work-related expenses.

(2) No deductions are allowed in respect of personal expenses such as tax, PRSI, or VHI etc.

Income from property (including savings)

The legislation does not contain a definition of “property” so the term is given its ordinary meaning – basically any asset the customer owns and could derive benefit from, including:

(1) Houses, other buildings, yards, farmland or other property which is invested, or put to profitable use, or is capable of being invested or put to profitable use but is not.

(2) Savings, deposits in banks, building societies, Post Office, credit unions or other financial institutions, shares, bonds etc.

Note:

(1) Where property is held jointly (e.g. by a couple), half the current value of the asset is taken as belonging to each.

(2) The amount of any mortgage or loan outstanding is allowed as a deduction in estimating the net weekly value of the property.

(3) Where an asset is not put to a ‘profitable use’, the current market value is determined and used as the basis for assessment.

Method of calculation

The method of calculating the weekly income from any form of property is as follows:

Amounts less than €1,000

The assessment only applies to units of €1,000. Therefore, all amounts should be rounded to the nearest unit of €1,000.

This assessment of income limits has applied to the following benefit schemes since 2005:

Blind Pension, Carer’s Benefit, Disablement Pension, Health & Safety Benefit, Illness Benefit, Incapacity Supplement, Invalidity Pension; Jobseeker’s Benefit, Occupational Injury Benefit, and State Pension Contributory.

Saver clause for persons in receipt of pension payments at date of change:

A saver clause applies to the effect that where a person was in receipt of a pension payment at a date of change* and the previous assessment was more favourable to the person; his or her entitlement will not be reduced because of the change of formula. The saver clause ceases to apply when the capital increases.

• The method of calculation changed in October 2000 and January 2002 and details are in earlier versions of this Guideline. Members of the public can request an archive copy for a particular year by sending an email to info@welfare.ie

Income from any other sources as a qualified adult

Article 8.1(d) of S.I. 142/2007 provides for the assessment of income from any other source and the attributing of a weekly value to such income. It is intended to capture all other forms of income generated from ownership of assets or sources other than those specified above. These include income from rental properties or leases, occupational pensions, insurance policies including life assurance, a trust fund, a deed of covenant, non-EU social security payments; maintenance payments from a former spouse/civil partner, and various other forms of periodic income. This list is not exhaustive.

This form of income is also calculated on a weekly basis.

When calculating the average weekly income of a qualified adult, the following payments are excluded:

(1) Disablement Benefit (under Section 75)

(2) Death Benefit in respect of an Orphan (under Section 83)

(3) Guardian's Payment (Contributory)

(4) Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)

(5) Half-rate Carer’s Allowance

(6) Domiciliary Care Allowance

(7) a payment from Tusla (Child and Family Agency) in respect of a child who is boarded out (Tusla Foster Care Allowance)

(8) pandemic unemployment payment paid under Section 202, or

COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment under Section 68L,

(9) And/or Child Benefit.

Article 8(3) of SI 142/2007 sets out income which may be disregarded for the purpose of determining a qualified adult’s income for the purposes of establishing an entitlement to a qualified adult increase

These include:

(1) any sums from compensation awarded by -

• Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal or related court of competent jurisdiction to compensate for State’s use of Human Immunoglobulin Anti-D blood products
• Residential Institutions Redress Board
• Disability caused by Thalidomide

(2) any ex-gratia payments made under the

• Lourdes Hospital Redress Scheme 2007
• Lourdes Hospital Payments Scheme
• Symphysiotomy Payment Scheme
• inquiry on the Cervical Check Scoping Programme or
• Department of Health measure for women diagnosed with cervical cancer since 2008
• to persons who suffered harm in the care of Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
• Stardust Victims' Compensation Tribunal
• Stardust Redress Scheme 2024

(3) any payments awarded

• to women who were admitted to and worked in the Magdalen Laundries
• by the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board
• by the Northern Ireland Victim and Survivor Service (VSS)
• under the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme
• under provisions of the Health (Repayment Scheme) Act 2006
• under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, established under section 5 of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 (No. 20 of 2023)
• under the scheme operated by the State Claims Agency, known as the ‘Ex gratia scheme – Implementation of the ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights) Judgement in O’Keeffe v Ireland’

(4) educational awards that include:

• the 1916 Bursary Award
• Uversity Higher Educational Scholarships for Adult Learners up to a max. of €7000
• School Transport Grant for Children with Special Educational Needs
• Tusla Educational Support for Children in Care and Aftercare Bursary scheme
• payments from the KickStart Scholarship Fund administered by the Probation Service
• an amount up to a maximum of €7,000.00 per annum from payments made by UCD’s Cothron na Féine Scholarship Programme

(5)sport Ireland payments under the International Carding Scheme

(6) a rental income disregard of up to a maximum of €269.23 per week for owner occupiers who rent a room(s) as living accommodation for at least 28 consecutive days to person(s) other than immediate family members or employees, effective from 12th July 2022

(7)disregard of the Accommodation Recognition Payment of €800 per month received for hosting temporary protection beneficiaries who are not in receipt of a housing support payment from the department, or others, with similar effect. Previously this was €400 up until November 2022 when the ARP payment was increased

(8)any amount received by way of any maintenance payment made to or in respect of a qualified child

(9)an amount up to a maximum of €7,000.00 per annum from payments made by Co-operative Housing Ireland’s Scholarship Programme

The current rates of IQA vary according to the Scheme under which the claim is made. Refer to relevant scheme guidelines in association with published Rates Booklet SW 19, available at www.gov.ie/dsp.

Tapered / Reduced rate of increase

Tapered (reduced) rates are payable in certain schemes where the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant’s weekly income exceeds €100 per week but is less than €310 weekly.

A lower (tapered) rate of increase is payable in the case of:

• Illness Benefit
• Partial Capacity Benefit
• Incapacity Supplement
• Invalidity Pension (from 6th April 2000 only)
• Jobseeker's Benefit and Jobseeker's Benefit Self-employed
• Occupational Injury Benefit
• State Pension (Contributory) (from 7th April 2000 only).

The legislative provisions are in articles 9-11 of SI 142/2007 and Sections 46A and B of the 2005 Act (for Partial Capacity Benefit only).

Details of the tapered Rates of Payment for past years from 1982 to 2016 are available on an archived list on www.gov.ie/dsp. The archive is divided into Pre 2003 and Post 2003 periods.