FAMILY INCOME SUPPLEMENT
Family Income Supplement (FIS) was introduced five years ago to alleviate hardship in working families with children whose earnings are only marginally better than if they were unemployed and claiming social welfare payments. To date only 18,500 families have availed of the scheme despite the fact that it is estimated that 60,000 are entitled to
do so.
For some time I have been concerned about the number of families in Mayo who are entitled to Family Income Supplement (FIS) but are not receiving it. The Minister for Social Welfare, recently revealed that only 18,500 families are claiming this payment despite the fact that 60,000 are entitled to do so and that last year over €100 million went unclaimed.
Throughout Mayo, hundreds of families can benefit from this extra money. The method of calculating FIS is fairly simple. For a family of 1 or 2adults and 1 child the weekly income limit is €465 after tax and this continues to rise depending on the number of children. For a family of 5 children the limit is € 705. If a person’s income is less than this,they may be entitled to a payment of 60% of the difference as long asthey are working a minimum of 19 hours a week or 38 hours a fortnight.
The Department’s response to the low take-up rate has been to run a TV ad campaign, but the campaign only ran for a week. Most commercial campaigns run for months, not days. Blink or make a cup of tea and you would have missed it. The campaign only succeeded in generating 2,800 calls to a lo-call phone number. If there is any improvement it is happening at a snail’s pace. For my part, I will only be too glad to assist any family with a claim if contacted at the constituency office on 087 9713268.
Family Income Supplement (FIS) was introduced five years ago to alleviate hardship in working families with children whose earnings are only marginally better than if they were unemployed and claiming social welfare payments. To date only 18,500 families have availed of the scheme despite the fact that it is estimated that 60,000 are entitled to
do so.
For some time I have been concerned about the number of families in Mayo who are entitled to Family Income Supplement (FIS) but are not receiving it. The Minister for Social Welfare, recently revealed that only 18,500 families are claiming this payment despite the fact that 60,000 are entitled to do so and that last year over €100 million went unclaimed.
Throughout Mayo, hundreds of families can benefit from this extra money. The method of calculating FIS is fairly simple. For a family of 1 or 2adults and 1 child the weekly income limit is €465 after tax and this continues to rise depending on the number of children. For a family of 5 children the limit is € 705. If a person’s income is less than this,they may be entitled to a payment of 60% of the difference as long asthey are working a minimum of 19 hours a week or 38 hours a fortnight.
The Department’s response to the low take-up rate has been to run a TV ad campaign, but the campaign only ran for a week. Most commercial campaigns run for months, not days. Blink or make a cup of tea and you would have missed it. The campaign only succeeded in generating 2,800 calls to a lo-call phone number. If there is any improvement it is happening at a snail’s pace. For my part, I will only be too glad to assist any family with a claim if contacted at the constituency office on 087 9713268.
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