The next In-Work Benefit payment will be made next July, covering the second quarter of this year. In-Work Benefit payments range from € 200 to € 1500 per child per year.
This year is expected to benefit 14,000 people, following changes announced in the 2022 Budget, where the thresholds have been further expanded to make more parents eligible:
For couples where both work, the income limit has been raised from € 35,000 to € 50,000 a year;
For couples where one parent works, the income limit has been raised from € 26,000 to € 35,000 per year;
For single working parents – the income limit has been raised from € 23,000 to € 35,000 a year.
Those who fall into this category will receive payments at the new rates next November.
These details were announced during a news conference addressed by the Minister for Social Policy and the Rights of the Child Michael Falzon.
Minister Falzon argued that the Social Benefits Division together with the Office of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue and service.gov are working on a system where anyone who falls within these thresholds is automatically paid without the the need for application.
Minister Michael Falzon also said that by widening the thresholds more people will benefit from this benefit. It is estimated that from this year the beneficiaries will double where with 14,000 people will benefit and about 20,000 children will benefit from these increases.
Director George Cremona spoke about how In-Work Benefit has evolved over the years, considering that in the first year it was introduced (2015) 1,359 people benefited from it. He explained that the number has continued to grow over the years, due to the continuous widening of the thresholds, and last year reached 7,246 parents representing 11,539 children under the age of 23. The cost during the year 2021 reached € 7,013,000.
The In-Work Benefit combined with the Tapering of Benefits, free childcare and other initiatives taken by the government have boosted so that many social assistance beneficiaries have left the world of work and are no longer dependent on this. -help. From 2013 to date, social assistance recipients have fallen by 56%.
