How to change the benefit we're receiving as a family?

NiamhEile

I am on One-Parent Family Benefit, and I work 2 days a week. The father of my two children is on the Dole. How do we change the payments we're getting so as to make it a family payment? Who should I contact to see about this? At the moment, officially I am living with my parents and he is living with his, but we want to begin renting together now and we also need to see about rent allowance, once we have changed the benefits we are currently receiving. I.e. we don't want to be a 'one-parent family' any more; we want to rear our children together and plan to get married in the not-too-distant future. Thanks for any advice.

uoluol

I don't understand what you mean when you say that you are "officially" living with your parents and your partner is "officially" living with his parents.

Is it that you are living together as a family unit but lying to social welfare about your One parent family status. Please tell me that is not the case. Fraud is against the law you know. Not a nice example for your children.

But if you want to move in with your boyfriend, well it's not that difficult a process. You just declare to social welfare that you are not single, and your partner then can claim for you all as a family unit "officially".

NiamhEile

No we want to move in together soon,(I wrote this in a hurry earlier as my kids were hanging out of me, so if it was unclear or badly worded I apologise), so we need to change our status as far as social welfare is concerned. So who should I contact to do this? Does this mean my partner will be claiming for all of us under his dole or something? Which department should I contact and where can I find the number? Thanks for your help. I did try ringing Citizens' Information Bureau to find out but can't get an answer.

cee_jay

www.welfare.ie -> Contact Us
You can either ring your local office, or call into them in person. You will find the number and address on the website. Your boyfriend needs to go in too and tell his hatch.

NiamhEile

Thank you very much I will get on to them tomorrow. Thanks for your help.

NiamhEile

uoluol wrote: »

Is it that you are living together as a family unit but lying to social welfare about your One parent family status. Please tell me that is not the case. Fraud is against the law you know. Not a nice example for your children.
QUOTE]

And I am not trying to lie to anyone; on the contrary, I am trying to change things now so that before we look for somewhere to rent we can be receiving the right welfare payments seeing as I will no longer be a one-parent family. I was just trying to explain my situation. Sorry if I was unclear.

Olduvai

The operational guidelines provide clear information on eligibility for one parent family payment and the elements of what is considered as cohabitation for the purposes of the scheme.

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/OperationalGuidelines/pages/cohabit.aspx
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/OperationalGuidelines/Pages/onepfp.aspx#part1

Changes in circumstances should be notified to the relevant departmental sections.

Citizens information services will provide you with information on your entitlements as a family unit.