One Family - Ireland » budget

Children in One-parent Families the Real Victims of Budget

comms — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:00:59 +0000

One Family, the leading provider of specialised support services for one-parent families in Ireland today, 7^th December 2010, gives its response to Budget 2011. At a time when cutbacks were inevitable One Family had called on the Government to protect those already experiencing high levels of poverty and social exclusion from any more cuts.

‘But today’s many cuts – coupled with increases in taxes to be paid by those on low incomes – will have a devastating effect on one-parent families, many of whom are already living in poverty and struggling to combine work and caring responsibilities. In the absence of any clear jobs strategy the government has clearly not met its commitment to protect the most vulnerable from the effects of the crisis,’ says Candy Murphy, Policy Manager, One Family.

16.6% of lone parent households live in consistent poverty; a rate more than three times the national average (5.5%) and a recent ESRI study found that child poverty has become increasingly concentrated in one-parent families, showing that in 2007, 65% of children in consistent poverty were in lone parent families.

‘Children are the real victims of today’s budget,’ continues Murphy, ‘as the cuts in the One-Parent Family Payment of approximately €8 a week will hit one-parent families especially hard. The effects on children of these cutbacks will be particularly long lasting and deep. The universal social contribution may increase this hardship. While we don’t have exact details of this yet we know that it will be applied to those on the new minimum income and may be highly regressive.’

Even before the budget, more and more lone parents were contacting One Family because they were having difficulties in making ends meet for their families.

‘Our *askonefamily helpline has received an increase of 25% of calls since the recession,’ adds Murphy, ‘many of these calls are from distressed parents whose relationships have reached crisis point due to financial stresses and pressures.

Yet this budget makes no recognition of this real impact which the recession is having on family relationships. The Government has not provided for any increased services to deal with the additional stresses.’

One Family Director Karen Kiernan adds: ‘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

One Family has been providing specialist family support services to people parenting alone and sharing parenting for 38 years. Services include parenting and skills training, counselling, parent mentoring and national information supports.

For further information please contact:

Hilary Fennel, Communications Manager 01 6629212 087 2359515

One-parent families to suffer under planned cuts

comms — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:08:43 +0000

One Family, Ireland’s leading organisation for one-parent families, warns that any of the planned cuts in social welfare payments or in the minimum wage announced in the National Recovery Plan 2011-2014 will directly increase the thousands of one-parent families already living in poverty.

Figures just released show that poverty rates for one-parent families remain the highest for any family type and that the incomes of one-parent families have already fallen dramatically between 2008 and 2009 – by 15% – due to a drop of a third in the percentage of lone parents at work, according to the CSO (SILC.2009).

‘Planned cuts in the minimum wage together with increases in the tax take from low income workers especially in the absence of any jobs or childcare strategy will make this situation even worse for lone parents and their children,’ says One Family Policy Director Candy Murphy.

‘Surely it makes more sense to target those that can better afford a cut in their income?’ continues Murphy, adding that any proposals for a universal social charge and for changes in child income supports must not further penalise those on the lowest incomes, including many lone parents.

‘The emphasis of any reform should be on reducing poverty and social welfare dependency for lone parents by facilitating access to sustainable employment. Simply put, this means supporting those with childcare responsibilities to gain the skills and qualifications they need to be able to participate in any hoped for recovery in jobs in the years to come,’ continues Murphy. One Family runs a series of courses and programmes designed to do just that. These programmes, such as ‘New Futures’, help lone parents move on to training, education and employment.

‘But in order for any such initiatives to be truly effective, lone parents need affordable childcare once they have completed these programmes,’ continues Murphy, ‘that is why we caution against any social welfare or tax reforms that do not adequately reflect the reality of lone parents’ lives.’

Ends

For further information please contact:

Hilary Fennel, Communications Manager 087 2359515

Karen Kiernan, Director, 01 662 9212, 086 850 9191

Candy Murphy, Policy Manager, 01 662 9212, 087 293 3180

One-parent families faced with poverty

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:26:12 +0000

One Family , the leading provider of specialist support services for one-parent families in Ireland today expresses its concern that lone parents on welfare will face further cuts in their income as a result of Budget 2010. One-parent families are already experiencing four times the level of poverty found in the general population and the measures introduced today along with those introduced in the last two budgets will , in One Family’s view , increase this inequality.

Candy Murphy , Policy & Research Manager with One Family said:

‘While we welcome the increase in the Qualified Child Allowance we very much regret that it is at the expense of an overall cut in child benefit. The reductions in welfare rates announced today on top of existing cuts in the form of the Christmas bonus and the loss of the early childcare supplement will increase poverty and will also worsen the already almost insurmountable poverty traps experienced by lone parents. We are especially concerned that lone parents in low paid jobs will face increasing difficulty remaining in the workforce given continuing high childcare costs ’

She went on to say that:

‘We trust that the government will work with organisations like One Family to ensure that lone parents on welfare have access to the full range of education and training opportunities and to assist lone parents to develop their skills and qualifications in preparation for the economic upturn that the Minster assured us today is on the way.’

Karen Kiernan , Director of One Family said:

‘We are very concerned to see no indication that additional supports will be put in place to deal with the growing incidence of family breakdown as a result of the recession. Calls to our helpline have been up over 20% this year directly due to economic stresses and One Family are working with very limited resources to support such families and to minimise the stress on both parents and children.’

One Family has been providing specialist family support services to people parenting alone and sharing parenting for 37 years. Services include parenting and skills training , counselling , parent mentoring and national information supports.

For further information please contact:

Hilary Fennell , Communications Manager 01 662 9212 , 087 235 9515
Candy Murphy , Policy Manager , 01 662 9212 , 087 293 3180

One Family Policy Manager Candy Murphy to speak at Press Conference Thursday 26 November

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Invitation

‘1 million reasons to oppose cuts to Child Benefit’

Representing all elements of family life in Ireland today and jointly opposed to any cuts or changes to Child Benefit in Budget 2010; OPEN, One Family, PACUB, the Children’s Rights Alliance and the National Women’s Council of Ireland invite you to a joint Press Conference on Thursday 26^thNovember, 2009.

Speakers:

Frances Byrne, Director, OPEN
Candy Murphy, Policy & Campaigns Manager, One Family
Treasa Dovander, Founder, Protest Against Child Unfriendly Budget (PACUB)
Maria Corbett, Policy Director, Children’s Rights Alliance
Orla O’Connor, Head of Policy, National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI)

The conference will be chaired by Charlie Weston, Personal Finance Editor, Irish Independent

This unique joint appeal will strongly oppose any cuts or changes to child benefit in Budget 2010. The five groups will represent all elements of family life; children, women, parents in Ireland and will highlight the detrimental effect on all families if the Government imposes cuts or changes to this payment in the up-coming budget.

Press Conference Details
Date : Thursday, 26 November 2009
Time: 11am
Venue: Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2

RSVP and further information: Ciara O’Shea, NWCI Communications Officer, (01) 87 87 248 / 087 993 7663

Budget 2009 Press Release

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:57:30 +0000

ONE-PARENT FAMILIES FACE THE FUTURE WITH FEAR NOT HOPE

One Family, the leading provider of specialist support services for one-parent families in Ireland, today calls on the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin T.D., to ensure that the most vulnerable families are not forced to pay further for the excesses of others.

One Family believes that Budget 2010 has the potential to destroy all the positive work that lone parents, their representatives and state agencies – including the Minister’s own Department – have done to reduce poverty and improve the prospects of one-parent families in Ireland. Such families are already poorer following the last budget, and have less hope of accessing education, training and employment than they had a couple of years ago. Such families are already having to watch opportunities for their children decrease and are now faced with the prospect of also losing many of the services that provide vital supports for them in their local communities.

Candy Murphy, Policy & Research Manager with One Family said:

‘One-parent families are already experiencing four times the level of poverty found in the general population. One Family is calling on Minister Hanafin today to ensure that such families will not be asked to pay more in the next Budget. Instead, we want an assurance the brunt of the economic downturn will be borne by those who can actually afford to pay it.’

She went on to say that:

‘One-parent families cannot cope with any further reductions in their income, be it from welfare cuts or cuts in child benefit. They cannot be expected to see their opportunities to participate in education and training programmes – or their ability to provide care for a relative – slashed by the removal of the so called ‘double payment’.’

Supports for vulnerable families, especially those experiencing relationship and marriage breakdown, must be maintained and expanded if we are to avoid creating even more victims of the current downturn.

Ms Murphy went on to say:

‘This is an opportunity for the Minister to demonstrate her commitment to the most vulnerable families in our society. We call on her to reinstate the Christmas bonus for families on social welfare as a gesture of solidarity with those facing into the festive season on even lower incomes this year.’

The infrastructure that supports families in Ireland is also being threatened with major cuts. Karen Kiernan, Director of One Family said:

‘If the McCarthy Report’s recommendations are implemented, organisations in the community and voluntary sector like One Family will face enormous difficulties in providing crucial services to their clients at a time when many more families are likely to need such services. We have already seen a 20% increase in calls to our helpline in recent months. Proposed cutbacks affecting the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the Family Support Agency and the HSE have the potential to rapidly decimate the services that have been so painstakingly built up for families throughout Ireland.’

One Family has been providing specialist family support services to people parenting alone and sharing parenting for 37 years. Services include parenting and skills training, counselling, parent mentoring and national information supports.

—————————————————-ENDS———————————

For further information please contact:

Hilary Fennell, Communications Manager 01 662 9212, 087 235 9515
Candy Murphy, Policy Manager, 01 662 9212, 087 293 3180

Editors note: Facts about one-parent families:

· The number of one-parent families in Ireland increased from 153, 900 in 2002 to 189,200 in 2006[1]. This represents a 23 per cent increase and means that one-parent families now represent 18 per cent of all families living in the state.

· The number of one-parent families with children under 20 years of age increased by 70.4 per cent between 1997 and 2006[2]. In 2006, one-parent families represented 22 per cent of all families with children, an increase of 36 per cent since 2002.

· In 1980 there were approximately 30,000 one-parent families with children under 15 years old. In 2006 this was just over 99,000, an increase of 60 per cent. In 2006 94 per cent of lone parents with children under 15 were women, compared to 6 per cent of men.

The latest EU-SILC figures for 2007 show that 20.1 per cent of people living in one-parent households are consistently poor compared to 5.1 per cent of the general population.[3] Overall the figures indicate that at least

one in 5 one-parent families continue to live in consistent poverty, the government’s own measure of poverty at the height of the economic boom.

[1] Number of household with lone parents with children of any age.

[2] According to the CSO “it must be kept in mind that the more precise family coding allowed by the revised relationship question used in the 2006 census has contributed to this increase”. Census of Population 2006.

[3] Overall this is a decrease of over 10 per cent in the consistent poverty rate for members of lone parent households since the previous year. However a number of methodological considerations must be taken into account in interpreting these trends. In 2007 a new measure of consistent poverty was introduced that included two more forms of deprivation. This is now the official measure of consistent poverty. The figure presented above are comparing the consistent poverty rate using the old measure in 2006 and the new measure in 2007 and therefore are not directly comparable. Using the old measure of consistent poverty, in 2007 27 per cent of people living in lone-parent households were consistently poor compared to 33 per cent in 2006. Comparing the new measures, 27.3 of lone parents were living in consistent poverty in 2006 compared to 20.5 per cent in 2007. both figures indicate a decline of 7 percentage points in consistent poverty among one-parent families which is to be welcomed.

Pre-Budget Submissions

admin — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:31:17 +0000

Pre-Budget Submisson 2012

One Family’s Pre-Budget Submission to the Department of Social Protection

One Family pre-budget 2012 submission

Submission to: Department of Social and Family Affairs

Pre-Budget Submisson 2011

Introduction

One Family is again framing its submission in a way that takes account of the serious economic downturn currently being experienced in the economy and in recognition that, while short term financial problems must be a key concern, The Department of Social Protection, supported by other Departments, should:

Base all decisions on the premise of not increasing poverty among one-parent families
Develop and implement a coherent strategy to reduce child poverty which is strongly and increasingly concentrated in one-parent families
Ensure that proven supports to assist lone parents to secure and/or progress into employment, education and skill development pioneered to date by FAS and the Department of Social Protection in partnership with One Family are maintained and built on
Ensure that existing supports to assist families going through crisis pregnancy, marriage and relationship breakdown and new family formations are not dismantled
Build on positive supports for families and children already in place, e.g the universal free preschool year.

One Family 2011 pre-budget submission sent 21 09 10

Pre-Budget Submission 2010

Introduction

The 2010 pre-budget report has framed its submission around the economic downturn. One-parent families are facing increased financial and other pressures due to the cutbacks already imposed by Government in the earlier budget in 2009 and in the 2008 budget. These cutbacks already seriously affecting one-parent families include:

Reductions in Rent Supplement and increases in rent contribution required by the tenant
Removal and reductions in payments for children – removal of the Early Child Care Supplement and Child Benefits cuts for 18 year olds
Removal of the Christmas bonus for those on welfare
Exclusion of those on the One-Parent Family Payment from many of the new training and education initiatives introduced by FAS
Cutbacks in education grants – often in the middle of courses
Cutbacks in support for schools and for school children in low income families.

One Family 2010 pre-budget submission 15 10 09 tk

Pre-Budget Report 2009

Introduction

This report has framed its submission in a way that takes account of the serious economic downturn currently being experienced in the economy and of the expectation, as forecast by the ERSI in its latest Medium Term Review, that the economy will soor return to a long-term growth path.

One Family 2009 pre-budget submission 11 September 2008

Pre-Budget Submission 2008

Introduction

This report has framed its submission around the 3 main areas indentified in the National Economic and Social Council report on the Development Welfare state (NESC Report No. 113. May 2005)

These areas are

Income Adequacy
Services
Innovation

One Family pre-budget submission October 2007

Pre-Budget Submission 2007

Introduction

One Family welcomes this opportunity to submit our pre-Budget submission to the Department of Social and Family Affairs. This year we are framing our submission around the ten areas that we believe are vital to addressing the inequalities experienced by one-parent families in Ireland today.
Pre-budget-submission 2007-PDF

Pre-Budget Submission 2006

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:05:15 +0000

One Family welcomes the opportunity to make this submission in advance of Budget 2006. One Family has designed its pre-budget submission in the knowledge that the Government is considering significant developments in the area of support for solo parents and for childcare in Ireland. The submission is also made in the context that solo parents are increasingly Achieving Equality and Social Inclusion for All in Ireland disadvantaged as a group in Ireland in terms of poverty levels, social welfare dependency and access to services that help address these issues.

Pre-budget-submission-2006-PDF