UK and Irish governments back Philomena’s Law to protect survivors’ benefits

Taoiseach Micheal Martin and British prime minister Keir Starmer walking in the garden at Fota House in Cork, following the UK-Ireland summit. Picture: PA

The UK and Irish governments have agreed to back the so-called Philomena's Law for survivors of mother and baby homes living in the UK.

In recent days, UK-based survivors of the institutions have seen benefits cut because they accepted compensation. Up to 13,000 of the survivors, who are living in Britain, risk losing access to essential means-tested benefits if they accept compensation, which can range from €5,000 to €125,000 depending on the length of time people were resident.

The Irish Government’s redress scheme was introduced after an inquiry detailed the experiences of about 56,000 women and about 57,000 children who were placed or born in homes, mostly run by nuns, between 1922 and 1998.

The scheme is not ‘disregarded’ for those on means-tested benefits in the UK. This means that people who are in receipt of means-tested benefits may have their benefits stopped because they have too much in savings.

British Labour MP Liam Conlon moved Philomena's Law, named after survivor and campaigner Philomena Lee, last year. He warned that many survivors living in Britain have been deterred from making an application to the compensation scheme operated by the Irish Government.

Mr Conlon said current rules mean any money accepted through the scheme would be considered as savings and could see the survivor "lose means-tested benefits and financial support for social care".

At Friday's UK-Ireland summit in Cork, the two governments agreed that this money would be disregarded going forward.

"We acknowledge the suffering of those who spent time in mother and baby homes during the 20th century," read a joint statement.

"In recognition of the lifelong impact of this, today the UK agrees to disregard payments under Ireland’s mother and baby redress scheme, ensuring that survivors in both countries are treated the same and can receive the compensation to which they are rightly entitled. 

"We also welcome Ireland’s agreement in principle to disregard means for compensation payments from UK schemes."

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: "This is very welcome news, and I think the summit is a catalyst to getting that over the line. Basically, anyone who receives redress payments from the mother and baby homes redress scheme will not have their social protection income affected or undermined as a result."