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	Social welfare: First budget since 2009 with no cuts to welfare rates</p>
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	All recipients of core social welfare payments will get a 25 per cent Christmas bonus this year, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has announced.<br />
	Mr Howlin also announced an increase in child benefit of &euro;5 per month per child, or &euro;60 per year, to begin in January.<br />
	Describing Budget 2015 as a significant day that marked the end of budgetary austerity, he said the Government was determined the economic recovery would be matched by a social recovery.<br />
	It was the first budget since 2009 which would see no cuts to social welfare rates, he said, and he was allocating &euro;19.4 billion to the Social Protection budget next year.<br />
	The Living Alone allowance will increase to &euro;9 per week.<br />
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	In an effort to encourage unemployed parents back into work, the Back to Work family dividend will allow families retain their qualified child allowance of &euro;29.80 per week for 12 months after returning to work and to retain 50 per cent of this for the second 12 months after returning to work.<br />
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	Mr Howlin said the cost of these measures would be &euro;196 million and would be funded in the main by the reduction in expenditure on unemployment assistance and jobseekers&rsquo;s allowance due to falling numbers on the live register.<br />
	Social welfare spending is due to reduce by almost &euro;140 million over the next three years amid expectations the labour market conditions will improve .<br />
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	In a Comprehensive Expenditure Report published alongside today&rsquo;s other budget documents, the Government said it expects to gain &euro;400 million in additional live register expenditure in 2015, on top of &euro;42 million in savings from 2014.<br />
	Thhe Government has set expenditure ceilings for the Department of Social Protection at &euro;19.4 billion in 2015, falling to &euro;19.27 billion by 2017.<br />
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	&ldquo;The ceiling for the Department of Social Protection reflects an adjustment to take account of the estimated impact on Live Register-related expenditure of further improvements in labour market conditions and lower numbers on the Live Register,&rdquo; the document states.<br />
	In the next three years, total social welfare expenditure will be in the order of &curren;58 billion with over a third, or 36 per cent of voted Government expenditure - being allocated to the Department of Social Protection next year.&nbsp;</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/christmas-bonus-back-at-reduced-rate-as-child-benefit-increases-5-per-child-1.1963068">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/christmas-bonus-back-at-reduced-rate-as-child-benefit-increases-5-per-child-1.1963068</a></p>
