The range of measures set out today in Budget 2025 will provide financial assistance to families across the country.
The lump sum payments will enable parents to make larger once off payments that will be necessary this winter, help prevent or reduce financial hardships for many and better guarantee children don’t go without essentials. It will ease lower income families dealing with high prices for many essentials. However, it’s important to remember that they are again temporary.
Targeted measures, such as the increase core social welfare rates and in particular to qualified child increase (now named child support payment) are very welcome. The differential increase for those under and over 12, appropriately reflects the higher cost involved with older children. These measures will support families experiencing disadvantage and have the potential to reduce deprivation among children, which actually increased last year.
In addition, we welcome the expansion of free schoolbooks to secondary school students up to the end of the senior cycle; extension of hot school meals programmes to all primary schools next year and piloting out of term food project in summer 2025; and broadening free transport to children under 9. These will all help reduce costs on families struggling with costs related to education.
For the families we work with and support overall the measures set out today will go some way in the short term to reduce their worries about being able to provide their children with basic essentials. However, it was hoped they would be somewhat higher. The increases today won’t go quite far enough to ensure that families can meet minimum essential standard of living.
Suzanne Connolly, Barnardos CEO said: “The once off measures and increases to longer terms supports set out today in Budget 2025 with help protect the families across our services in the immediate term. These families will feel more assured that they will be able to meet costs this winter such as getting their children new clothing and meeting heating costs. However, it won’t eliminate longer term financial anxieties or substantially increase supports to address adversities families are facing.”
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Notes to editors:
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