Child Benefit is ‘bread and butter’ for parents right now – NWCI announces survey results in the r

Published: Wednesday, April 01, 2009

The effects of child benefit being cut for me would mean I could no longer work as I could not afford childcare; this would be a disaster for my physical and mental well-being.
I think child benefit is very important. I rely on it every month to get nappies, clothes, shoes and essentials my son needs. Often, I have relied on it to get extra food and freeze it. Without it mu budget would be stretched even tighter and I don't think I would be able to manage.

Two quotations from the National Women's Council of Ireland's survey into the importance of child benefit shows the stark reality for many parents in the current economic crisis, under the threat of budgetary cuts.

The National Women's Council (NWCI) is calling on the government to protect payments to parents in next week's Budget in light of the results of this survey. The NWCI fear that any such cuts would have a serious impact on the lives of women and children throughout the country,
The survey: 'How important is Child Benefit to Parents' was conducted amongst a random sample of NWCI members, in order to find out how families are viewing child benefit and other payments, at this time.

' The survey results represent a snapshot of our membership. The results are quite severe in terms of the critical importance that parents are now placing on child benefit in this recession with 94.9% highlighting this importance. 66.5% of respondents describing it as 'a critical part of family income' at present and 28.4% describing it as 'an important part of family income'. Only 5.2% described it as a 'minor part of family income' stated Orla O'Connor, Head of Policy, NWCI.
When posed with the possibility of child benefit being cut in next week's budget, 44.7% of respondents claimed that it would be 'an absolute financial disaster' for their families if this were to happen. 24.6% described child benefit as their 'survival cushion' at the moment, with 12% saying that they couldn't pay for childcare.

'The views that we received through this survey from our member organisations are that parents are literally struggling to make ends meet at the moment' continued Orla O'Connor. ' The NWCI is therefore urging Government to protect payments to parents in the budget next week and in forth-coming budgets. Child benefit and the Early Years Supplement are the only supports to parents to pay for all the costs of rearing children, including childcare' she said.

In relation to costs for childcare at present, the NWCI is highlighting that, contrary to cost reductions in other areas, the provision of childcare is one area where costs are not falling. 49.4% of respondents said that costs for childcare have increased since December 2008 and 47.6% reported costs remaining the same in that period of time. Only 3% of respondents said that costs had decreased.

' With 94.9% of respondents to this survey placing a critical importance on child benefit, as a part of family income, the government needs to ensure that women and children are protected, in next week's budget' concluded Orla O'Connor.