The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty T.D., has welcomed the continuing downward trend in national poverty rates, as shown in data published by the Central Statistics Office in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2016 today.

The Minister said a very positive finding is the fall in basic deprivation to 21% in 2016. This was a continuation of the yearly decline in deprivation rates which started after 2013, when deprivation peaked at over 30%.

The consistent poverty rate (a combined measure of low relative income and basic deprivation) was 8.3% in 2016 – this represents a further small decline on the 8.7% rate in 2015, and the peak rate of 9.1% in 2013.

The Minister noted that median disposable income increased by 3.0% to €20,597 per person in 2016 (with the increase in real terms being slightly higher at 3.1%. The rise in incomes was due to both increased employment and higher earnings for those at work. Unemployment fell from a peak of 15.4% in 2012 to 8.4% in 2016. [It has since fallen to 6.1% as of November 2017.]

Minister Doherty said: “I am pleased to see the continued social dividends from the recovery reflected in these latest poverty figures.  It is encouraging to see that improvements in living conditions and in incomes were sustained into 2016 – even though, at the time these data were collected, social welfare payments remained frozen at the reduced levels introduced in 2009.  With wide-ranging increases in payments rates in the 2017 and 2018 Budgets, and the further improvement in the economy and in employment in 2017, I am confident that these trends have continued.  The Government focus on increased spending on social supports in recent Budgets will clearly make a difference in the lives of those who are vulnerable within our society”

The Minister noted that the social welfare system (excluding pensions) continued to perform strongly in 2016, reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate from 33.6% before social transfers to 16.5% after social transfers. This equates to a poverty reduction effect of 51%; ensuring Ireland remains one of the best performing EU countries in reducing poverty through social transfers.

Social transfers also played an important role in reducing income inequalities in Ireland (as measured by the Gini coefficient) from 53.7 to 30.6 in 2016; an income inequality reduction effect of 43%.

Recent budgets have been forward looking, allocating limited resources in a prudent way, to make sure that everyone benefits from the recovery. For instance, Budgets 2017 and 2018 increased the weekly rates of payment for working-age schemes and raised the income disregard for one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s transition payment recipients. A new €500 annual Cost of Education Allowance was introduced for Back to Education Allowance participants with children from September. This will help parents, including lone parents, to return to education. The focus of these budgets has also been on the provision of services rather than simply on income supports e.g. the new Single Affordable Childcare Scheme.

The Minister concluded: “In 2018, my focus as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection will be on supporting people and families as they make the transition from welfare to work and strengthening welfare supports for those who may need them.”

ABC Comment: The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is an annual survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of a representative sample of about 5,000 households or about 13,200 individuals in Ireland. The survey collects information on the income and living conditions of different households in Ireland, in order to derive indicators on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. It is carried out in every EU country under EU legislation and commenced in Ireland in June 2003. The findings for 2016 can be found at: www.cso.ie/en/statistics/socialconditions/. This release presents results based on data collected in the period January 2015 to December 2016.

Basic deprivation: People are regarded as experiencing basic deprivation if they live in a household deprived of 2 or more of the 11 basic deprivation items because they could not afford them (i.e. not by choice). The figure in 2015 was 25.5%.

At-risk-of-poverty: People are regarded as being at-risk-of-poverty if their equivalised income is below 60% of the median income. In 2015, the at-risk-of poverty threshold was €12,000 per annum or €230 per week for a single person. The at-risk-of-poverty figure in 2015 was 16.9%.

Consistent poverty is the measure used to set the national social target for poverty reduction. It is the overlap of at-risk-of poverty and basic deprivation. The consistent poverty rate was 8.7% in 2015.

Gini coefficient is the relationship between cumulative shares of the population arranged according to the level of income and the cumulative share of total income received by them. If there was perfect equality (i.e. each person receives the same income) the Gini coefficient would be 0. A Gini coefficient of 100 would indicate there was total inequality and the entire national income was in the hands of one person.

Poverty reduction effect of social transfers: The impact of social transfers is measured by the percentage reduction, in absolute and relative terms, in the at-risk-of-poverty rate as a result of social transfers (excluding pensions). In 2015, social transfers (excluding pensions) reduced the at-risk-of poverty rate from 34.9% to 16.9%, or 18 percentage points in absolute terms. This represents a poverty reduction effect of 52.9%

Some benefits over the festive season will be paid early. The benefits which will be affected are child benefits, tax credits and pension benefits.

These payments are usually paid on the last working day before the bank holiday they are due.

Here are all the dates you need to know about:

Child benefit

If child benefit is due on a Bank Holiday it will usually be paid early.

Here are the festive pay dates, according to Gov.uk

• Due date of Monday, December 25 (Christmas Day) - will now be paid on Thursday, December 21
• Due date of Tuesday, December 26 (Boxing Day) - will now be paid on Friday, December 22
• Due date of Monday, January 1 (New Year’s Day) - will now be paid on Friday, December 29

Pension Benefit

• Due date of Monday, December 25 - will now be paid on Friday, December 22
• Due date of Tuesday, December 26 - will now paid on Friday, December 22
• Due date of Wednesday, December 27 - will now be paid on Friday, December 22
• Due date of Monday, January 1 - will now be paid on Friday, December 29

Tax Credits

• Due date of Monday, December 25 - will now be paid on Friday, December 22
• Due date of Tuesday, December 26 - will now be paid on Friday, December 22
• Due date of Wednesday, December 27 - will now be paid on Friday, December 22
• Due date of Thursday, December 28 - will now be paid on Wednesday, December 27
• Due date of Monday, January 1 - will now be paid on Friday, December 29
• Due date of Tuesday, January 2 - will now be paid on Friday, December 29
• Due date of Wednesday, January 3 - will now be paid on Tuesday, January 2

Other benefits, including Job Seeker’s Allowance, Universal Credit, PIP and Employment Support Allowance

• Payments due between Friday, December 22 and Wednesday, December 27 will be paid on Friday 22 December 2017
• Payments due on Thursday, December 28 will still be paid on Thursday, December 28
• Payment due between Friday, December 29 and Monday, January 1 will be paid on Friday, December 29

One million children living in poverty in England will miss out on free school meals under Universal Credit (UC) proposals, a children’s charity has warned.

Under current proposals, people in receipt of UC benefits will be means tested for free school meals once the roll out of the new system is complete.

The Children’s Society warns this will lead to about one million children being left without a free school meal and will create a ‘cliff-edge’ where many families would be better off taking a pay cut.

Once a family with one child passes the £7,400 threshold they would need to earn £1,124 a year more to make up for the loss in free school meals, the charity calculated.

‘There are significant, proven benefits for children’s health, education and their futures in making sure they have a healthy lunch every day, but at least one million children will miss out if this change is introduced,’ said Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society.

‘Continuing to provide free school meals for all children on universal credit would not only help vulnerable children, it would also prevent low income parents being left worse off if they take on more hours or get a pay rise.

‘Universal credit was designed to always make work pay, but these plans will undermine that very principle.’

According to the charity’s findings, 212,000 children in London are projected to miss out on free school meals. In the West Midlands it’s 130,000 children. In the North West, 130,000 children.

The consultation on free school meals entitlement under Universal Credit closes on 11 January 2018.

ABC Comment: In England, a child may be able to get free school meals if the parent/guardian gets any amount of Universal Credit. In Scotland, you can claim free school lunches if you are receiving any amount of Universal Credit. In Wales, you can claim free school meals if you are receiving any amount of Universal Credit. In Northern Ireland, you can get free school meals if you are receiving universal credit with net income below £14,000.

Temperatures drop triggers Cold Weather Payments A drop in temperature across parts of Northern Ireland has triggered the first of this winter’s Cold Weather Payments. A total of £393,000 will be paid to just under 16,000 people who qualify for the payment in the affected postcode areas which are BT24-BT26 and BT30-BT34. These postcodes are aligned to the Katesbridge weather station and the Met Office has notified the Department that the trigger was reached over the seven day period from 8 December 2017 to 14 December 2017.

Only those qualifying customers living in these postcode areas will receive the £25 payment. The Department for Communities will make the payments automatically and there is no need to make a claim. Customers can expect to receive their payment on Wednesday 20 December 2017.

The Cold Weather Payment is available when the average temperature is recorded, or is forecast to be zero degrees centigrade or below, for a period of seven consecutive days. Notes to editors: To qualify for a Cold Weather payment a person must be receiving:

• State Pension Credit; income related Employment and Support Allowance and are in the Work Related Activity or Support Group; Universal Credit that includes an amount in respect of a disabled child or qualifying young person for at least one day in a period of cold weather; or

• Income Support, income based Jobseekers Allowance or income related Employment and Support Allowance for at least one day in a period of cold weather; and have a dependent child aged under five; have a relevant pensioner or disability premium; be entitled to Child Tax Credit for a child or qualifying young person who is disabled or severely disabled; or

• Universal Credit for at least one day in a period of cold weather, and: where a cold weather payment is payable in relation to a recorded period of cold weather they must not be employed or self-employed on any day during that period and: have a child aged under five; be in receipt of or have an underlying entitlement to Limited Capability for Work or Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity; where a cold weather payment is payable in relation to a forecasted period of cold weather they must not be employed or self-employed on the day that the Meteorological Office supplies the Department with the forecast and: have a child aged under five; be in receipt of or have an underlying entitlement to Limited Capability for Work or Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity.

The Cold Weather Payment trigger was reached at Katesbridge weather station based on a forecast of the temperature over the seven day period from 8 December 2017 to 14 December 2017. The payments are made automatically and people do not have to make a claim. Cold Weather payments are in addition to the Winter Fuel payments of £200 and over, made to people born on or before 5 August 1953.

Since 2010, successive Tory Governments have aimed to save public money by cutting addiction services. Since addiction is often stigmatised, perhaps these politicians feel justified in cutting these unarguably essential services.

These cuts really started to take hold following the enactment of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. This Act meant addiction services is now solely commissioned by local authorities and not the NHS.

Before 2012, long term Government investment in addiction services saw year-on-year decreases in drug-related deaths. These improvements have now been utterly wiped out.

Why is this the case? Because under the NHS, local authorities’ spending on addiction treatment isn’t ring fenced. Most local authorities have seen their own budget reduced by the Government, and so addiction services have been chopped to help local authorities make savings required by these cuts.

An example of this injustice is in the City of Birmingham. Addiction services saw their budget cut from £26m to £19m in 2015-16.

Rises in Drug-Related Deaths since 2012

Following the enactment of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, drug-related deaths have sharply increased:

• Deaths involving heroin and/or morphine doubled between 2012 and 2015 from 579 to 1,201.That’a 107% increase. The mortality rate for deaths involving heroin/morphine declined between 2008 and 2012, with a particularly sharp fall between 2009 and 2011. The recent reversal means the mortality rate in 2015 was the highest since records began in 1993
• There were 2,479 drug related deaths involving both legal and illegal drugs registered in England and Wales in 2015. This was 48 per cent higher than 2005, and the highest since comparable records began in 1993

Sadly, these increases have occurred despite an overall decrease in the number of people using illicit drugs. In 2005/06, 10.5% of adults aged 16 to 59 had taken an illegal drug in the last year. This decreased to 8.4% in 2015/16.

Cuts in staffing

Staffing levels have been hit hardest by these cuts. Staffing cuts mean fewer psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and clinical psychologists are available to assist people suffering from addiction issues. Addiction services are instead relying on doctors without specialist qualifications and volunteers.

The number of trainee addiction psychiatrists have reduced by 60% since 2006. In 2006, there were 52 trainee psychiatrists. In 2016, this number has decreased to 21. This means addiction services find it difficult to access sufficiently qualified staff members. This has decreased the quality of addiction services and diminished the safety of patient care.

Attacks on harm reduction treatment

Harm reduction is used to describe the methadone programme. This is when those addicted to heroin are given methadone as a ‘replacement’. Whilst the merits of this approach are debatable, thousands of people have come to depend on methadone to control their addiction to opiates, and going without really forces these people back onto street heroin.

Since 2012, local authorities have begun to limit the amount of time patients may stay on a methadone programme. Also, ‘payment by results’ contracts mean many local authorities are unwilling to offer the methadone programme to patients with complex mental health needs.

All this is putting strain on A&E services

The above state-of-affairs means many people are seeking out the assistance of A&E instead of specific addiction services. The number of hospital admissions in 2015/16 relating to drug poisoning was 15,074. This represents a 51% increase compared to 2005/05.

A solution to these problems

The Royal College of Psychiatrists proposes a three-part solution:

1. A return to joint addiction service commissioning between the NHS and local authorities
2. There must be at least 60 addictions psychiatrist training posts in England
3. There can be no further cuts to local authorities’ budgets for these services

“Yule pay” — mum on benefits spends £2,000 on Christmas presents for her six children say the Sun.. Homeless up by 65 percent in seven years. Homelessness is on the rise and is now affecting families who would never have expected to struggle, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman have warned. No doubt the Sun wants to draw attention away from this fact by talking about benefit scroungers. Seems that way. 

A touching tale. 

Staff and councillors at East Hampshire District Council have bought more than 200 Christmas presents for vulnerable children in the district.

The presents have been wrapped and delivered to children put forward by local schools and charities.

Image: Cllr Julie Butler

Cllr Julie Butler, EHDC Portfolio Holder for Customer Relations, said: “We know there are some children in the district having a tough time and if we can bring them a little cheer by giving them a present then we are more than happy to do that.

Friday, 15 December, 2017: Employment Affairs & Social Protection Minister, Regina Doherty, T.D. today launched ‘Supporting Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace: Guidelines for Employers and Employees’ which were prepared by TENI.

Speaking at the event, Minister Doherty referred to findings of a small sample survey undertaken by TENI earlier this year on Employment Experiences: “I was struck by some of the findings of this survey with 55% of respondents indicating that they have experienced or witnessed transphobic bullying in the work place.  Similarly, it shows that 54% have skipped work or thought about skipping work due to negative treatment and 45% believed that they had to stay in the closet about their gender identity.  Those findings clearly illustrate the need for these guidelines.  The advice in the guidelines is practical and the actions that they call for are manageable.    I’m sure that these guidelines will be of great assistance to both employers and employees.”

The Minister said she was pleased to read the positive comments emanating from the survey which show that some employers already have appropriate measures in place to support their transgender staff.  Dublin Bus, the Minister said, is one such employer and indeed leading the vanguard in this regard.   

The Minister noted: “The policy and guidelines of Dublin Bus on Workplace Gender Transition are a great example of the positive steps that employers can take.  The guidelines launched today will be very useful for employers and employees and that will ultimately make the workplace experience much more positive for transgender people.”

Minister Doherty also spoke of the review of the Gender Recognition Act, details of which were announced recently.  The group charged with the review held its first meeting this week.  One of the key terms of reference for the group is in relation to conducting a consultation process and the group are working on plans for that at present with a view to running the consultation process early in the New Year.  It is hoped that the review will be concluded by the end of May 2018. 

ABC Note: Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI)

Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) seeks to improve conditions and advance the rights and equality of transgender people and their families.    TENI engages in activities that promote the equality and well-being of trans people in Ireland.      The organisation works nationally in four main areas: healthcare, employment, education and legislation.    There are three strands to the work:

• Support - a range of support services that aim to increase the well-being of trans people and their families by providing support that mitigates common experiences of isolation, misunderstanding and exclusion.
• Advocacy -  across legal, medical, societal and political structures to ensure that policy development and legislative reform reflects the positive recognition of trans inclusion, rights and equality.
• Education - workshops and trainings that increase awareness, understanding and inclusion of trans issues across key sectors of Irish society.

With regard to its mission the organisation states:
“Our Vision is an Ireland where trans people are understood, accepted and respected, and can participate fully in all aspects of Irish society. Ireland remains a place where it can be difficult for trans people to lead safe, healthy and full lives.  TENI is dedicated to ending transphobia, including stigma, discrimination and inequality and continues in the struggle for social, political and legal recognition of trans people in Ireland.”

A press release issued from FEANTSA the European Federation of National Organizations working with the Homeless.

FEANTSA is delighted to learn that, on 14 December, the United Kingdom High Court ordered the Government to stop deporting homeless EU citizens after ruling that the controversial policy of considering rough sleeping  as a misuse of Treaty Rights is unlawful.

Three EEA nationals, Mr Gureckis, Mr Perlinski and Mr Ceilecki, faced removal action by the Home Office because they were sleeping rough in the UK. Their claims against the Home Office were brought by the Public Interest Law Unit and North East London Migrant Action (NELMA). The AIRE centre intervened in the proceedings. The court’s ruling found that the Home Office’s definition of rough sleeping as an abuse of EU law free movement rights was contrary to EU law. It also found that the Home Office policy was discriminatory and amounted to an unlawful systematic verification of the EEA nationals’ rights to reside. These arguments are in line with the object of the complaint that FEANTSA filed before the Commission on the 15th of June and that was included in the documents provided by the Public Interest Law Unit in the application for permission to apply for the judicial review.     

A revised policy, which has not yet received ministerial approval, was published shortly before the hearing, on 30 October 2017. We hope that the UK Government will revise this policy as soon as possible, duly taking into account the High Court judgement and stop targeting mobile EU citizens who should be supported rather than criminalised.

In line with recent statements by Commissioner Jourová, who pointed out that homelessness does not affect a EU citizen’s right to live in another EU member state, and a spokesman for the Commission who confirmed to The Independent that it is investigating the UK’s deportations policy, we call on the European Commission to be vigilant in order to promptly assess if the UK’s proposed revised policy is in line with EU law and to prevent such measures being adopted by other EU Member States.

ABC Comment: Homelessness is now a serious risk for working families with stable jobs who cannot find somewhere affordable to live after being evicted by private-sector landlords seeking higher rents, the local government ombudsman has warned.