Child benefit cut by €10 plus drug fees doubled – The Budget

FAMILIES are facing a €10 cut in child benefit and medical card holders will see a doubling of the charges they pay for prescription drugs in next week’s Budget.

Pensioners are also still in the firing line, with changes to the over-70s medical card and the home package of free TV licence, electricity and telephone allowances still on the table.

Although the pension is safe, the rest of the benefits for the elderly have yet to be decided upon by ministers.

The Cabinet met twice yesterday to work through the health and social-welfare aspects of the budget, with another special meeting tomorrow evening.

Among the swingeing measures to emerge from the discussions are:

* A €10-a-month cut in child benefit, which will drop from €140 to €130.

* A cut to the time for which non-means-tested dole is paid from 12 months to nine months.

* A doubling of the 50 cent charge that medical card holders pay for medicines and other items that they get on prescription from pharmacies, up to a maximum of 10 items per month.

And further details have emerged about the property tax, which will come into effect next year, following yesterday’s revelations of the plan in the Irish Independent.

* Elderly people will be given the chance to pay the property tax on their home from beyond the grave

* People living in council houses are expected to be hit with higher rents – with rises of €1 or €2 a week to bring in €50-€100 a year per house.

The Government has devised a way of protecting old people who live in large houses where they raised their children and who now can’t afford to pay the property tax from their meagre pensions.

Rather than forcing them to borrow or sell their home, elderly people will be able to apply via a means test for a deferral of the property-tax payment. However, there will be a cap on the number of years that can be deferred.

Similar to the Fair Deal nursing-home scheme, the accumulated bill would then be paid when the person sells their house or if they pass away, when their estate would pay it off.

Although local-authority housing will be exempt from the property tax, the occupants will have to make a larger contribution to take account of the charge going to local services.

Those in council estates who bought out their houses will have to pay the full property tax anyway, so the Government wants to see every home make a contribution.

The property-tax rate will be at 0.2pc in a self-assessment system, with bands starting at €50,000 and going up by €50,000 each time.

There is no cap on the market value of the home, so millionaires living in mansions will pay the same percentage on the total value of their house.

Someone living in a house worth €100,000 will pay up to €200, while someone living in a house worth €1m will pay up to €2,000.

The amount of tax to be paid is set at the mid-point of the bands. For instance, where the value of the house falls anywhere within the band of €100,000 to €150,000, the homeowner will pay on 0.2pc of €125,000 i.e. €250.

A special meeting of the Cabinet yesterday saw the detail of the health and social-welfare budgets thrashed out.

Any changes to the medical-card system are not yet signed off. But the over-70s are being closely examined, especially the means-testing threshold of €72,000 for a married couple and €36,000 for a single person.

Pensioners

A move towards a GP-only card is being examined for those on healthy pensions. The pension will not be cut and the free travel scheme is not expected to be touched. But a cut to the package of free TV licence, electricity and phone is still alive.

There will be a change to the entitlement to the dole. When someone becomes unemployed, they go onto the non-means tested dole, unemployment benefit, of €188 a week.

After 12 months, they move to the means-tested payment of the same amount. However, if another member of their family is working, this can put them over the means-test limit.

This period will be cut back to nine months to encourage people to get back to work.

But Labour Party sources believe this will not have a major effect on its policy not to cut welfare benefits. Party figures claim it is not a direct cut to a core social welfare payment.

– Fionnan Sheahan and Fiach Kelly

via Child benefit cut by €10 plus drug fees doubled – The Budget, National News – Independent.ie.

via Child benefit cut by €10 plus drug fees doubled – The Budget, National News – Independent.ie.

Older people are suffering the ill effects of the cutbacks

Older people are suffering the ill effects of the cutbacks and they stand in solidarity with their children & grandchildren who are also suffering.

This is why the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament will proudly march alongside trade unions and other community groups before Budget 2013 on Saturday next to say “No to Austerity”. We are asking all our members around the country to walk alongside us with dignity & respect to show the Coalition government that we have had enough of the recession, enough of the cuts to income and enough of the threats to the travel pass. The last Budget saw a vicious cut to the means tested fuel allowance thus increasing fuel poverty.

So walk alongside us … but wrap up warm with good shoes and scarves and gloves. This time however we want you to wear different shades of grey to symbolise the many hits we’ve taken. But we are not without hope – wear a sprig of green as well to show that we still have hope. And what about some “Greys in Shades” – wear some sunglasses as well.

Lastly what about some placards? We’ll have some but we encourage you to make your own & bring them with you. Your own words are always best but here are some possible slogans you could have on your placards:

We’ve paid for our Pensions

For a proper health service

Keep Older People Warm & Mobile

Fair Pensions for all

For dignity & respect

For a better, fairer old age

A Fairer Ireland for Older People

HITS – Health, Income, Travel, Security

Hit the bankers – Not the pensioners

Bash Bankers – Not Pensioners

We all stand together

Hands off our Pensions

We’ve paid for our pass

No more austerity

Enough is Enough

No more cuts

We’re all in it together

Why not just shoot us?

Never too old to suffer

No Country for Old Men … or Old Women

March is to be held on the 27th Nov

via Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament.

via Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament.