Deserted Wife's allowance/Benefits?

Eire212

Hi,


I went onto



https://whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie/en/socialprotection/2019/


and discovered a deserted wife's allowance and benefits. Around 86 million a year of our tax goes between the two apparently. The allowance/benefit itself sounds like a piss take. Does anyone know if there is a Deserted Husband's allowance/Benefits because it doesn't show in the social protection expenditure and this just sounds incredibly sexist let alone pointless :mad:

Inquitus

Eire212 wrote: »

Hi,


I went onto



https://whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie/en/socialprotection/2019/


and discovered a deserted wife's allowance and benefits. Around 86 million a year of our tax goes between the two apparently. The allowance/benefit itself sounds like a piss take. Does anyone know if there is a Deserted Husband's allowance/Benefits because it doesn't show in the social protection expenditure and this just sounds incredibly sexist let alone pointless :mad:

I would presume it covers women and children who are abandoned by husband's who refuse to pay child support etc. While noble in intent, I am sure it is exploited to feck. Well intended mind.

28064212

Did you do any research on it all? It's been closed to new applicants since 1997, more than 20 years ago. Replaced by the One-Parent Family Payment

Eire212

28064212 wrote: »

Did you do any research on it all? It's been closed to new applicants since 1997, more than 20 years ago. Replaced by the One-Parent Family Payment

Then why does it still show in the 2019 social protection expenditure?

28064212

Eire212 wrote: »

Then why does it still show in the 2019 social protection expenditure?

Because people live longer than 22 years

Eric Cartman

Eire212 wrote: »

Then why does it still show in the 2019 social protection expenditure?

Because of the people who've been gaming the system since before then , the ones who professionally live off welfare that some on this site claim do not exist. Here is more proof that they do.

banie01

28064212 wrote: »

Did you do any research on it all? It's been closed to new applicants since 1997, more than 20 years ago. Replaced by the One-Parent Family Payment

Clearly the OP didn't
It's quite a stretch to need to search for and then completely misinterpret the SW figures to fan a bit of faux outrage.

Eire212

banie01 wrote: »

Clearly the OP didn't
It's quite a stretch to need to search for and then completely misinterpret the SW figures to fan a bit of faux outrage.

Well I'm certainly not paying "faux" tax money for this allowance, though I wish, so it clearly isn't "faux" outrage if it's something we're still having to pay for I'm sure many people would like to voice their opinion on this matter The allowance should be dropped.

banie01

Eire212 wrote: »

Well I'm certainly not paying "faux" tax money for this allowance, though I wish, so it clearly isn't "faux" outrage if it's something we're still having to pay for I'm sure many people would like to voice their opinion on this matter The allowance should be dropped.

The allowance will be dropped when those who had an entitlement under the conditions in place at its inception are through death or wastage no longer entitled to draw it.

Continuing to pay it is a far more efficient use of tax money, than engaging the legal representation that will be needed to fight the court challenges should the plug be pulled.

CrabRevolution

I'm not taking a side or criticising anything, but I'm kinda curious as to the reasoning behind the payment 22 years after it finished being awarded.
Is it paid instead of unemployment benefits? Or is it just an older version of single parents allowance? If it was related to supporting children, any children born before the cutoff in 1997 would be well over 18 by now so how would anyone still qualify for it?

Was it just the case that if you qualified for deserted wife allowance before 1997 you were untitled to a regular payment until the end of your days?

Again not pro or anti here, just genuinely curious if anyone has the answers.

tea and coffee

Possibly as it covers spousal maintenance not just child maintenance? So it would continue til they die, I suppose?? Just guessing; have no idea.

Peregrinus

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Because of the people who've been gaming the system since before then , the ones who professionally live off welfare that some on this site claim do not exist. Here is more proof that they do.

Sure. Because "not dying" = "gaming the system" :rolleyes:

CrabRevolution wrote: »

I'm not taking a side or criticising anything, but I'm kinda curious as to the reasoning behind the payment 22 years after it finished being awarded.
Is it paid instead of unemployment benefits? Or is it just an older version of single parents allowance?

The latter.

CrabRevolution wrote: »

If it was related to supporting children, any children born before the cutoff in 1997 would be well over 18 by now so how would anyone still qualify for it?

The dependent children don't have to be the children of the husband who deserted you. And SFAIK the deserted wives benefit, which was contributions based, didn't require any dependent children.

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Was it just the case that if you qualified for deserted wife allowance before 1997 you were untitled to a regular payment until the end of your days?

No. The allowance was means-tested, so you had to continue to satisfy the means test. Plus, for both benefit and allowance, you had to continue to meet the qualifying criteria. And, in any event, payment would normally teminate at latest at 66, when you would transition to the old-age pension.

dartboardio

Id happily pay for 'deserted wives benefit' rather than jobseekers allowance for someone whos been on it for 20 years..