Why not index link social welfare rates?

[cd27]

Ronan Lyons has an interesting blogpost on how to find the required savings if the State is not to go bust.

Irish public sector expenditure, health, education, social affairs | Ronan Lyons

About time someone asked the tough questions,

"Why is Ireland’s job-seekers allowance/benefit so generous compared to other countries? Particularly when one bears in mind that rent allowances are separate and cost the taxpayer a further €500m.
Why should payments to job seekers not be index-linked both ways? Should these payments not be going down in line with price levels generally, just as they went up in inflationary times?
Why is child benefit not means-tested? €2.5bn is an awful lot of money - is there any evidence to suggest that it has contributed to Ireland’s higher birth rate?
Why on earth is mortgage interest relief, which admittedly is only costing €40m in 2009, considered social assistance? "


Time to better target the vulnerable?

[HarshBuzz]

Ronan Lyons has an interesting blogpost on how to find the required savings if the State is not to go bust.

Irish public sector expenditure, health, education, social affairs | Ronan Lyons

About time someone asked the tough questions,

"Why is Ireland’s job-seekers allowance/benefit so generous compared to other countries? Particularly when one bears in mind that rent allowances are separate and cost the taxpayer a further €500m.
Why should payments to job seekers not be index-linked both ways? Should these payments not be going down in line with price levels generally, just as they went up in inflationary times?
Why is child benefit not means-tested? €2.5bn is an awful lot of money - is there any evidence to suggest that it has contributed to Ireland’s higher birth rate?
Why on earth is mortgage interest relief, which admittedly is only costing €40m in 2009, considered social assistance? "


Time to better target the vulnerable?

it's a nice idea but these benefits went completely out of whack over the last few years (way above the headline rate of inflation) that we can't afford to only decrease them by the rate of deflation.

much like house prices, I can envision SW benefits coming back to 1998 levels over the next few years (and faster if\when we default)

[cd27]

More from this interesting post by economist Ronan Lyons,

"When the public sector wants to, it can certainly cut costs. It can be ruthless even when it comes to someone’s wages. For example, €77m was spent by the civil service on consultants in 2008 - this is being cut to €53m in 2009. That’s a very commendable 30% reduction! I’m not sure why, when you multiply those numbers by 100 and replace “consultants” with “public sector workers”, the same principle doesn’t hold. The maths above shows that, even without making any major reforms to the public sector, better use of taxpayers money could save about €6bn across social affairs, health and education."

[Scorpio]

This was the shocker for me:

"Likewise widow's allowance… Without wanting to sound like Homer Simpson (who grumbles about "mooching war widows"), Ireland pays about as much on widow's allowance as it does on civil service pay!
What is the goal associated with this policy tool? Why do we have something in the region of 100,000 widows being paid €200 a week? One simple interim solution would be requiring the widow in question to sign on to receive the money, rather than pay it directly into their account - that would hopefully eliminate some of those who just don't need it."

[HarshBuzz]

This was the shocker for me:

"Likewise widow's allowance… Without wanting to sound like Homer Simpson (who grumbles about "mooching war widows"), Ireland pays about as much on widow's allowance as it does on civil service pay!
What is the goal associated with this policy tool? Why do we have something in the region of 100,000 widows being paid €200 a week? One simple interim solution would be requiring the widow in question to sign on to receive the money, rather than pay it directly into their account - that would hopefully eliminate some of those who just don't need it."

to answer the highlighted question: to get FF re-elected, silly.

[toughbutfair]

All welfare should be linked to the tax take (i.e. how much we can afford to give them).

[sharper]

I don't quite get why widow's allowance is being singled out, it's essentially a way of providing the state pension to the remaining spouse if they haven't built up enough contributions themselves

Widow(er)'s Pension (Contributory)PensionSchemes and ServicesThe Department of Social and Family Affairs

You cannot get a Widow's/Widower's Contributory Pension at the same time as an State Pension (Contributory). If you are entitled to both payments, you may choose whichever is the most advantageous. However, you can get a Widow's/Widower's Contributory Pension and half the personal rate of Jobseeker's Benefit, Illness Benefit, Occupational Injury Benefit, Maternity Benefit, Health and Safety Benefit, Adoptive Benefit and Carer's Allowance if you also qualify for one of these payments.

[cd27]

before they're of pensionable age? like government ministers I suppose!

[sharper]

Before pensionable age yes however you have to consider the not-unheard-of scenario where one partner is the breadwinner and one looks after the kids. The working one pops their clogs so the widow's pension sustains the family.

[cd27]

If the kids are under 18 or over?