Children's Allowance Stopped After Leaving Cert

The Children's Allowance for my eldest has been stopped from the begining of July. She did her Leaving Cert in June and was 18 in May. Is this standard practice? Does she not qualify if she goes to college in the Autumn, and if, so will we be retrospectively credited?

We were going to fund her summer with it as summer jobs for Irish students are few and far between.

Thanks in advance.

How long does payment last?

Child Benefit is paid for all children under age 16. However, you can receive Child Benefit for a child aged 16, 17 or 18 if they are in full-time education or are physically or mentally disabled.
We will send you a partly completed application form 1 month before your child's 16th birthday and, if your child is still in full time education, 1 month before the end of the academic year (while your child is under 19) so that you can continue to get Child Benefit.
When you receive the claim form, fill it in and have it certified by:

• the child's school or college, if they are in full-time education or
• FÁS, if the child is attending a full-time Youthreach course,
  
  or
• a registered doctor, if the child is physically or mentally disabled.

Note:
You must tell us immediately if:

• the child leaves full-time education or training before the certified date, or
• the child was physically or mentally disabled and is now able to support themselves before reaching age 19 or, the date certified by a doctor.

If you do not receive a claim form automatically, form CB 2 is available on the internet at www.welfare.ie, from your local Social Welfare Office or from your post office.

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Payment of CB continues up to age 19 but the college will have to certify the CB2 application form for you to get payment extended beyond the finish of secondary education as she is now over 18.

Why do you say jobs are few and far between?

Lauren said:

Why do you say jobs are few and far between?

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Possibly because they are? Especially depending on location? A friend of mine has returned to college as a mature student, and out of their class of about 50 students ranging from 18 - 50 yrs old, only a handful have managed to secure any type of work for the summer. Some of these are people with a lot of work experience and previous qualifications and still have trouble finding summer work, be it traditional student fare (shop or barwork or callcentre etc) or other.

Carpedeum you will have to get the college to certify that your daughter is in full time education and the CB will be paid out then.

Lauren said:

Why do you say jobs are few and far between?

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Many thanks for all the replies. I guess we will have to wait until college starts in October to get the childrens allowance back dated. The Dept must expect school leavers to get work immediately after the exams!

Regarding the summer jobs, my daughter, most of her friends and cousins are having difficulty getting work in local shopping centre shops, the city centre, bars, hotels and offices that till recent years would employ students during previous summers. I spoke to one employer (manager of a well known retail chain) and he said that he could employ immigrant labour with more experience at cheaper hourly rates... and they didn't complain about long hours and demand overtime! It doesn't bode well if the minimum wage is abolished as some employer bodies are proposing.

Luckily my kids have dual citizenship... we were products of the '70's and '80's ourselves and prudently arranged the second citizenship as each of our kids were born in case those times would revisit. After college or school or during summer breaks from college, it will break our hearts, but, it looks like our kids will be economic migrants.

carpedeum said:

Many thanks for all the replies. I guess we will have to wait until college starts in October to get the childrens allowance back dated. The Dept must expect school leavers to get work immediately after the exams!.

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Child Benefit is not related to whether a child is working or not. It is age and status related (i.e. if they are a full time student between 18 and 19).

carpedeum said:

Regarding the summer jobs, my daughter, most of her friends and cousins are having difficulty getting work in local shopping centre shops, the city centre, bars, hotels and offices that till recent years would employ students during previous summers. I spoke to one employer (manager of a well known retail chain) and he said that he could employ immigrant labour with more experience at cheaper hourly rates... and they didn't complain about long hours and demand overtime! It doesn't bode well if the minimum wage is abolished as some employer bodies are proposing..

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This indicates that the Irish are not willing to work at minimum wage to the same extent as non-Irish workers, not that the jobs aren't there!

carpedeum said:

Luckily my kids have dual citizenship... we were products of the '70's and '80's ourselves and prudently arranged the second citizenship as each of our kids were born in case those times would revisit. After college or school or during summer breaks from college, it will break our hearts, but, it looks like our kids will be economic migrants.

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Welfarite said:

Child Benefit is not related to whether a child is working or not. It is age and status related (i.e. if they are a full time student between 18 and 19).


This indicates that the Irish are not willing to work at minimum wage to the same extent as non-Irish workers, not that the jobs aren't there!

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Hi Welfarite,

It is nothing to do with the Irish not willing to work at the minumum wage! My daughter and other student would work for less! they just want money to pay for Oxygen, sustain themselves through college, buy clothes etc.

A core issue concerns accepting terms and conditions that Irish workers would not accept e.g. very short or no lunch breaks, no extra hourly rate for work done during anti-social hours etc. I did work myself as a student, everything from packing supermarket bags to bar work, security work and van deliveries in the days before the minumum wage... these jobs are not available anymore to students.

People are afraid to raise their heads above the parapet and voice these concerns, because, they are afraid of being mistakenly deemed racist. My perception is that it is immigrant labour that is being abused and taken advantage of by employers. Theses workers may undercut Irish workers and cede basic rights that have been long fought for in their desire to get work, but, they too will lose out in the long term. This is not happening in the public service or semi-state bodies, but, is happening in private workplaces.

To prove my non-racist political credentials ... in the course of my IT service industry management job I am recruiting staff (above the minimum wage, 37 hour week basic pay, hols, VHI etc).. the best person is employed... have currently a mix of Irish, Asian, Easter European, Western European... including college students for job experience (not permitted to employ my own daughter!). If we go down the cheap labour road, similar to what the hotel trade and bar trade have done, sacrificing skill quality for cost control, owners may reap initial profits, but, their product or service will deteriorate, customers will flee and skilled members of the workforce will migrate and add value to other economies.

I used to hear these complaints from other parents last year... it's only this year I have an 18 year old looking for summer work! Today, I've arranged for her to work in Vancouver (Canadaian companies love hard working Irish students) from next May... assuming she gets into college in Oct.