Partner Supplements
Qualifying Adult
Many Social Welfare Payments carry an addition/ increase in respect of a qualified adult (IQA). The adult addition applies with respect to most social welfare benefits. There are differences with respect to non-contributory old-age pension. This addition is not payable with all Social Welfare Payments, including particular widowers’ and loan parents’ payments.
A qualified adult is generally a spouse (or a  civil partner or cohabitant), who is wholly or mainly maintained by the person concerned. Generally, the qualified adult must be over 18.
For the purposes of adult addition, a spouse means a person in a married couple, living together, or a civil partner living together.A person is regarded as maintaining his spouse when that spouse’s income does not exceed €100 per week.
Qualifying & Exclusions
The benefit may be payable in respect of
- a spouse or cohabitee dependent on the person concerned,
-  persons over 16 caring for the claimant’s children;
- certain spouses deemed qualified in employment or self-employment but earning less than €100 per week.
However, the following  are excluded:
- employed or self-employed spouses civil partner, or cohabitant;
- spouses civil partner, or cohabitant themselves in receipt or entitled  to certain benefits;
- certain spouses civil partner, or cohabitant involved in training schemes or participating in certain employment and training schemes;
- a married person not living with not maintained wholly or mainly by that  person’s spousecivil partner, or cohabitant,
- spouse, civil partner, or cohabitant excluded by participation in a trade dispute from jobseeker’s benefit or allowance;
- spouse, civil partner or cohabitant entitled to an allowance, the rate of which is related to jobseeker’s benefit or allowance in respect of non-craft, full-time course approved by clause under FAS (Solas) under the Industrial Training Act;
- spouse, civil partner or cohabitant in receipt in receipt of an allowance for participation in VTOS, back to education allowance, back to work allowance, part-time job incentive.
A qualified adult does include
- a person over 16 years, wholly or mainly maintained by that person and having care one or more qualified children who normally resides with that person when that person is a single person, a widow, widower, married person who is not living  and is neither wholly or mainly maintaining nor wholly or mainly maintained by that person’s spouse;
- surviving civil partner;
- civil partner not living with and is neither wholly maintaining nor being wholly maintained by his or her civil partner;
- any other person prescribed by regulations.
A spouse who is wholly or mainly maintained by a person is qualified adult in relation to that person. When the spouse is in employment or self employment or entitled to disablement benefit, death benefit, half-rate carer’s allowance, guardian’s payment or no other benefit or assistance[      ].
Qualifying Low Income
Persons who are not living together are considered to be wholly or mainly maintaining a spouse when that spouse is not cohabiting with another person as husband and wife, the spouse’s weekly income does not exceed €100 a week and the person concerned is contributing towards the maintenance of the spouse by a weeklyamount that is equal to or in excess of the amount of the adult addition payable with the jobseeker’s allowance.
Accordingly, a qualified adult may be a person in employment or self-employment but with income of less than €100 a week and who is wholly or mainly maintained by the claimant or persons with limited social welfare payment entitlements as set out above.
A person who is widowed, a single person widowed or widower, a married person not living or not wholly or mainly maintaining or being maintained by his spouse is deemed to be wholly or mainly maintaining another person and that other person being over the age of 16 and having care of one or more qualified children of that first person, resides with the first person and his weekly income does not exceed €100.
If the the adult dependant earns between €100 and €310there is a a reduced rate of IQA (sometimes called a tapered rate of IQA). If the adult dependant is earning more than €310, there is no IQA. There is a tapered rate of IQA set out in the department’s SW19 (Rates of Payment) booklet.
Calculation of Income
Weekly earnings are calculated with reference to the average of the previous two months, when earnings are received monthly or in the previous six months when received weekly or fortnightly.
Self-employment income is calculated
- by reference to the weekly income as the previous year’s income divided by 52;
- in case of income from property that is invested, the income concerned or
- where it is capable of being invested but not put to use, it is deemed to be up to €20,000 excluded; €20,000 to €30,000, €1 per week per €1000;€30,000 to €40,000, €2 per week per €1000; over 40,000, €4 per week per 1000.
In the above calculations, sums received by way of disablement benefit, half-rate carer’s allowance, child benefit and guardian payment, are disregarded.
The definition accordingly covers spouses and cohabitees who are wholly and mainly dependent on the claimant. Subject to exclusions, including those
- in employment or self-employment or
- in receipt of certain social welfare payments;
- persons over 18 years caring for the claimant’s children;
- spouses wholly maintained by the claimant including those in employment or self employment, but with earnings of less than €100 per week.
Tapered
Where a recipient of illness benefit, jobseeker’s benefit, injury benefit, incapacity supplement, invalidity pension, State contributory pension, jobseeker’s allowance, Farm Assist, disability allowance,  is entitled to an adult increment but for the fact that the income exceeds the limit and the spouse’s income is less than the maximum (€250 a week), then there is a tapered reduction in the increment €100 per week and €250 a week.
The increment is between two thirds and 70% of the principal rate. The maximum is now €310.