Operational Guidelines: Child Support Payment (previously known as Increase for a Qualified Child)

The main legislative provisions for the payment of Child Support Payment (CSP) (previously known as Increase for a Qualified Child (IQC)) are located in:

• part 1 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended (hereinafter referred to as ‘the 2005 Act’), see especially Section 2(3)

and

• part 1 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations 2007) (hereinafter referred to as ‘S.I. 142/2007’).

Section 2(3) and 188 (1) of 'the 2005 Act' defines the term "qualified child".

A qualified child must:

• be ordinarily resident in the State
• not be detained in a children detention school
• satisfy the condition as to age.

Ordinarily resident in the State

The child’s usual place of residence must be in Ireland.

Where a child is temporarily absent from Ireland for a particular reason (e.g. educational activities), she or he may still be considered ordinarily resident in Ireland provided that the Deciding Officer (DO) or Designated Person (DP) is satisfied that the child's normal residence remains with the customer in Ireland Item was unpublished or removed

General information on allowable absences is available in the "Absence from the State"guidelines.

Not detained in a children's detention school

The child must not be held in legal custody in the Oberstown Children Detention Campus in Lusk, Co. Dublin.

Child detainees who are released from detention in Oberstown prior to their release date, may be considered to meet the definition of a qualified child, subject to provisions in Part 10 of the Children Act 2001 (as amended). In such cases the onus is on the customer to present the relevant release papers from Oberstown or the Probation Service (or other relevant authority) before the child support payment is paid.

Satisfy the age condition

Under 18

Those children who are under 18 years of age and who are normally resident with the customer are considered to have satisfied the age condition.

Note: There is no requirement for children under 18 years of age to be enrolled in full-time education to satisfy the age condition.

Over 18 and under 22

Those children who are over 18 years of age but under 22 years of age must continue to be enrolled in full-time education while residing with the customer to meet the age condition.

Where a child is between 18 and 22 years of age, and the customer is in receipt of a short-term payment, i.e. Jobseekers Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance, Illness Benefit, Enhanced Illness Benefit for Covid-19 (EIB-C19), Injury Benefit or Health and Safety Benefit, the customer must have at least 156 days on that payment or have accumulated 156 days on a relevant social welfare payment. Relevant payments are listed in Item was unpublished or removed

This additional condition does not apply to long term payments.

The 156-day condition

For the purposes of Social Welfare payments each payment represents 6 days, thus 156 days represents 26 social welfare weeks or 26 calendar weeks totalling 182 calendar days.

Once a DO is satisfied that a child meets the definition of a ‘qualified child’, to be eligible for child support payment the child must be considered ‘normally resident' with the customer.

Article 13 of S.I. 142/2007 sets out the statutory rules for determining the normal residence of a qualified child on all social welfare schemes where a child support payment is payable, except for Supplementary Welfare Allowance, One Parent Family and Child Benefit.

For One-Parent Family Payment, the normal residence rules are set out in Article 128 of S.I. 142/2007 and are slightly different. See Operational Guidelines: One-Parent Family Payment.

Note: From January 2012 onwards, qualification for the One-Parent Family Payment is dependent on, among other conditions, the customer having a child aged 7 or under. If a person qualifies for OFP based on this, payment of Child Support Payment for any other child or children will continue until they reach 18 years, or 22 years if they remain in full-time education. Most customers who no longer qualify for an OFP payment because the youngest child is aged between 7 and 13 will transfer to the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment (JST).

For Child Benefit purposes the rules are also different and are set out in Article 159 of S.I. 142/2007. See Operational Guidelines: Child Benefit

Article 13 of S.I. 142/2007

Article 13 of S.I. 142/2007 sets out that a child shall be deemed to be:

• normally resident with both parents where both parents remain living together as a couple
• normally resident with one parent where the parents of a child are not in a relationship and living separately, the child is generally considered to be normally resident with the parent they live with
• normally resident with the parent who has custody, where parents are separated, provided that the parent is making significant contributions to the child's upkeep. Where a child is the subject of a joint custody arrangement and lives with both parents part-time, their normal residence is considered to be with the parent they spend most time with. Where normal residence is disputed the case can be referred to a SWI for investigation
• normally resident with the parent who is substantially contributing to the child’s upkeep provided the parent with whom the child is residing is not in receipt of a social welfare payment other than:

○Child Benefit

○Death Benefit by way of Orphan’s Pension

○Guardian's Payment (Contributory or Non-Contributory)

○Carer’s Support Grant

○Continued Payment for Qualified Children

○Supplementary Welfare Allowance.

Note: The child must not be considered normally resident in any other household.

• normally resident with the surviving parent, where one parent is deceased, but only if that parent is maintaining the child
• normally resident with the head of the household with whom they reside where the child cannot be deemed resident with either parent
• normally resident with the person with whom they reside where the person is contributing towards the child’s maintenance while the child is resident in an institution. Contributing towards the maintenance costs of the child in the institution is taken to mean that there is a significant level of financial support by the adult in question. Expenses incurred in buying the child clothes etc. on a regular basis or taking the child on outings or for holiday periods, would be included in the calculation for this purpose
• normally resident with the head of the household of which she or he is for the time being a member of, and with no other person, where the child is a refugee in the State

Contributing Substantially

"Contributing Substantially" means the customer must be paying an amount in money or in-kind, equivalent to or greater than the rate of child support payment payable. See the Current rates of payment for social welfare payments (SW19)booklet for details.

Where the customer is not currently making such a contribution, but the Deciding Officer is satisfied that she or he would do so but for the fact that she or he currently cannot afford to do so, it may also be accepted that the condition is fulfilled (e.g. if they had done so previously when they could afford to).

Contribution in kind

In some cases, there may be an arrangement where the customer has care of the child or children for some period/s during each week e.g. regular visits by them. A child support payment may be payable in such cases if the expenses incurred equate to 'substantially contributing' to their maintenance i.e. are at least equivalent to the current child support payment rate.

Only costs actually incurred on behalf of the child's or children’s maintenance can reasonably be construed as necessary (e.g. transport, meals, social activities, ensuring accommodation is suitable, cost of overnight accommodation where applicable, etc.) It will be for the Deciding Officer to consider each such case by reference to the context and all the facts. All such cases should be dealt with sensitively and sympathetically.

A child support payment is payable in respect of each ‘qualified child’ who is normally resident with the customer. A child support payment must be payable on the scheme and there must not be a payment being made to anyone else in respect of the child.

Schemes where a child support payment is not payable

There is no provision for payment of a child support payment on the following schemes:

• Working Family Payment (WFP)(however, the qualifying income level on which the rate of WFP is calculated varies according to the number of qualified children) See Operational Guidelines: Working Family Payment for details
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory)
• Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Non-contributory) Pension

A widow, widower or surviving civil partner with dependent children may qualify forOne-Parent Family Payment,subject to meeting the conditions for this means-tested scheme. See the separate Operational Guidelines: One-Parent Family Payment for more detail.

• Death Benefit by way of Orphan’s Payment
• Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment under section 68L or the pandemic unemployment payment under section 202

Overlapping payments

Only one child support payment is payable at any one time in respect of any child. Section 247 of ‘the 2005 Act’ prohibits multiple payments to or in respect of a qualified child for the same period, with a limited number of exceptions.

A child support payment cannot be paid where the child is in receipt of a benefit, assistance, or allowance in their own right. The below payments represent the exception to this rule as they are specifically excluded from overlapping payment rules.

• Supplementary Welfare Allowance.
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Death benefit by way of a grant for funeral expenses.

A child support payment cannot be paid to a person who is already receiving a Department of Social Protection payment in their own right, or who an Increase for a Qualified Adult is being paid in respect of, on another person's claim. For example, a 17-year-old spouse or civil partner of someone receiving Jobseeker's Allowance.

Dependency or unemployment of the child not required

It is not a requirement that a qualified child be financially dependent on the customer. It is possible for a child who is under 18 years of age to be in paid full-time employment and still be admitted as a qualified child. A child who is between the ages of 18 and 22 must continue to be engaged in full-time education in order to continue to satisfy the definition of a qualified child. They can engage in part-time employment while studying and continue to be deemed a qualified child.

Full-rate and half-rate child support payment

For most social welfare payments, a full-rate child support payment is payable if the customer is receiving an Increase for a Qualified Adult (IQA) for a spouse/civil partner/cohabitant, or she or he is parenting alone.

If the customer and their spouse/civil partner/cohabitant are both getting a social welfare payment, a half-rate child support payment for each child may be payable to both individuals.

There is no provision in social welfare legislation for ‘split’ payment of a child support payment to separated parents where shared custody arrangements exist. For the purposes of the payment, it must be determined who the child is ‘normally resident’ with.

A half-rate child support payment is also payable when the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant has an income of between €310 and €400 a week. This does not apply to Jobseeker's Allowance (JA), Disability Allowance (DA) and Farm Assist (FA) as different income rules apply to these means tested payments. See relevant sections in scheme-specific Operational Guidelines here for more information on the calculation of family rates payable in different circumstances.

A half-rate child support payment is paid with Carer's Allowance to a customer who is living with a spouse, civil partner, or cohabitant. This does not apply to half-rate Carer’s Allowance as the child support payment is already included in the customer’s or their spouse/partner/co-habitant’s primary social welfare payment.

Earnings Limit

In the case of Jobseeker's Benefit, Illness Benefit (including EIB-C19), Injury Benefit/Disablement Benefit (Incapacity Supplement), Health and Safety Benefit, Carer’s Benefit, Invalidity Pension and State Pension (Contributory) a child support payment is not payable in respect of a qualified child who resides with the customer and the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant of the customer where the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant has a weekly income in excess of €400.00 (from January 2007). See separate Operational Guidelines: Increase for a Qualified Adult.

Where a child who is a student, turns 18 years of age during the academic year, and the customer is in receipt of a long-term payment, the child support payment continues to be paid until the end of the academic year or earlier should the student leave education. If the child is completing their final year of a leaving cert cycle the payment continues for 3 months following the completion of the Leaving Certificate examination.

Where a child is who is a student, turns 18 years of age during the academic year, and the customer is in receipt of a short-term payment with the customer having already attained the 156 days requirement, the child support payment continues to be paid until the end of the academic year or earlier should the student leave education. If the child is completing their final year of a leaving cert cycle the payment continues for 3 months following the completion of the Leaving Certificate examination.

Note: Payment will cease earlier if the customer’s entitlement to the short-term benefit exhausts before the end of the academic year. In such cases if an entitlement to a long-term payment is established by the customer the child support payment may be reinstated subject to standard qualifying conditions being satisfied.

Where a child, who is a student, turns 18 years of age during the academic year, and the customer is in receipt of a short-term payment but does not satisfy the 156 days requirement, the child support payment will continue to be paid in respect of that child up to the 30th of June following their 18th birthday, or until she or he completes the full-time day course of education, whichever is the earlier.

Where a child, who is a student, turns 18 years of age during the 5th year of second level education and payment of the child support payment in respect of the child continues until 3 months following the completion of the Leaving Certificate examination or upon the date of leaving education if earlier.

Where a student reaches age 22 during an academic year, payment of the child support payment is continued for the duration of that academic year, provided she or he remains in full-time education. The academic year must have commenced prior to his or her 22nd birthday.

Where she or he turns 22 between academic years payment continues up to the date the new academic year begins.

Full-time education

Thefurther and higher education authoritiesconsider a person to be in full-time education where she or he is attending a course which awards 60 ECTS credits* per annum within the traditional academic year of September to May. The number of hours per week on the course can vary significantly and there are no rules regarding the number of contact hours a student must have. Where the institution delivering the course designates this as full-time, this means the course has a full-time workload. Please check with the relevant authorities⸶for details of further and higher education courses of full-time study.

• European Credit Transfer and Accumulation (ECTS) is a standard for comparing the study attainment and performance of students of higher education across the European Union. One academic year corresponds to 60 ECTS credits that are equivalent to 1500 – 1800 hours of study irrespective of the qualification type.

⸶The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) are the relevant authorities.

Course of study/instruction over an academic year

A course of study is a full-time day course of study, instruction or training which may take place over more than one academic year, at an institution of education.

Academic year

An academic year is a period in which a course of study commences in one year and finishes in the following year. This includes term vacations.

Therefore, a child support payment remains in payment during school holidays, for vacation periods between college years, and providing that the child does not qualify for a primary payment in her/his own right. A child support payment remains in payment for the 3 months following the completion of the Leaving Certificate examination; this does not apply to the final year of any other academic programme.

Institutions of education

The Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended) lists these institutions as eligible for a child support entitlement, subject to certain conditions :

1. A school/college

2. a university

3. a national university of Ireland or a recognised college Institutes of Technology

4. Colleges of Education

5. Other State-aided institutions of education (see linked list below)

6. An institution providing a Youthreach course.

This is a list of publicly-funded higher education institutions (universities and colleges)recognised by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for the purposes of providing full-time day courses of study.

Courses excluded from the definition of full-time education

The following courses are excluded from the definition of full-time education for the purposes of awarding the child support payment:

• courses provided by or on behalf of Solas or an Education and Training Board where an allowance is payable (unless it is a Youthreach course)
• courses which form part of a work experience programme
• courses which arise from employment
• courses which comprise, in an academic year, a period of paid work experience, where such period of paid work experience is greater than the time spent receiving tuition or instruction at an institution of education

The relevant payments for the purposes of satisfying the 156 days requirement for short term schemes are as follows:

• Jobseeker's Benefit
• Jobseeker's Benefit for the Self-Employed
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Farm Assist
• COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP)
• Illness Benefit, including Enhanced Illness Benefit for COVID-19
• Partial Capacity Benefit
• Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme comprising Injury Benefit, Disablement Ben. and Death Ben.
• Adoptive Benefit
• Maternity Benefit
• Paternity Benefit
• Parent's Benefit
• Health and Safety Benefit
• Invalidity Pension
• Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Contributory) Pension
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory)
• Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner Grant
• Blind Pension
• Carer's Benefit
• Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Non-contributory) Pension
• Carer's Allowance
• Supplementary Welfare Allowance
• Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Disability Allowance
• One-Parent Family Payment