PROJECT TEAM
Director
Dr Bernadette Mac Mahon D.C.
Research Associate
Gráinne Weld
Research Associate
Robert Thornton
Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice
MINIMUM ESSENTIAL BUDGET
STANDARDS
HEALTHY FOOD FOR ALL 20TH NOVEMBER 2013
www.budgeting.ie & www.MISc.ie
Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice
The VPSJ was established in 1996 to work for social
and economic change tackling poverty and
exclusion.
Four Partners:
• The Society of St. Vincent de Paul
• The Daughters of Charity
• The Sisters of the Holy Faith
• The Vincentian Congregation
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Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice
• Two main approaches to achieve our goal
1. Active citizenship /
voter education
programme with
communities alienated
from the electoral
democratic process:
‘Your vote is your voice’
2. Development of facts
and figures on Minimum
Essential Budget
Standards for household
types in Ireland
www.budgeting.ie & www.MISc.ie
Minimum Essential Budget Standards
Methodology
Some simple questions = focus of this research
What is a basic standard of living?
How much does it cost?
How much income do you need to afford
this?
www.budgeting.ie & www.MISc.ie
What is a Minimum Essential Standard of
Living (MESL)?
• Derived from negotiated consensus on what
households believe is a minimum.
• It is a standard of living which meets
individual’s/household’s physical,
psychological and social needs.
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What is a Minimum Essential Standard of
Living (MESL)? Cont’d
Expenditure:
• A Minimum Essential Standard of Living
(MESL) is calculated by identifying the goods
and services required by different household
types in order to meet their minimum needs.
Income:
• A Minimum Income Standard is the income
required in order to achieve a minimum
essential standard of living.
www.budgeting.ie & www.MISc.ie
What does it Include?
• 16 Areas of Expenditure
• Goods and services priced in shops and
providers identified by Focus Groups
Food
Clothing
Personal Care
Health Costs
Household
Goods
Household
Services
Housing (rent)
Communications
Social Inclusion Transport
& Participation
Household Fuel Childcare
Insurance Costs Education
Personal Costs
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Savings &
Contingencies
The Household Types Covered in the
Research (Urban & Rural)
 Families with children: Two Parent & One Parent
households ( 1- 4 children)
 Adults of working age, living alone
 Pensioner couple households
 Pensioners living alone
 Cohabiting couple of working age, no children
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EXPENDITURE
Establishing the Expenditure
• To establish the expenditure 3 focus groups are
held for each household type to decide what is
needed for a minimum standard of living
• Negotiated consensus on goods & services to be
included in the baskets (approx 2000 items)
• Experts are consulted in order to ensure that the
negotiated consensus meets basic criteria e.g.
nutritional standards
• Focus is on needs, not wants
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Focus Groups
 Include People from different socio-economic
backgrounds (8 – 12 people per focus group).
• Focus Group work preceded by orientation meeting.
• 3 different focus groups for each household type:
Focus Group 1: Produces an agreed list of items
Focus Group 2: Reviews work of 1st group – reach
consensus
Focus Group 3: Rechecks items in each category
Study total costs for each category
Reaches final consensus
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Construction of the Food Basket
• Consensus on a Minimum Acceptable
Standard of Living
• Discussion of the Food Pyramid
• Maintain Food Diaries
• Construction of food menus for each day of
the week
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Construction of the Food Basket (Cont’d)
• Development of the shopping list
• Pricing of the items in shops identified by
focus groups
• Evaluation of the food basket by Nutrition
Experts
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INCOME
The Income Needed to Afford Expenditure
• The expenditure establishes the benchmark of
what household types need. From this the
income need of household types can be
examined
• Social Welfare
Where household types are solely dependent on
social welfare, e.g. unemployed and pensioners,
the adequacy of the household’s total social
welfare income is measured against the
household’s expenditure need
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Income (Cont’d)
• Employment – National Minimum Wage (NMW)
Total household income when earning the NMW
is calculated, including tax liability and any social
welfare entitlement (e.g. Family Income
Supplement). The adequacy of this income is
measured against the household’s expenditure
need.
www.budgeting.ie & www.MISc.ie
Income (Cont’d)
• Minimum Income Standard (MIS)
When the National Minimum Wage is inadequate
the household’s MIS is calculated. This is the
gross income a household needs in order to
afford a minimum standard of living. It takes
account of the potential tax liability and social
welfare entitlements of the household in
question.
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Household Expenditure on Food (Urban)
Examples of Social Welfare Dependent Households
Weekly
2013
Two Parents,
baby, 3 & 10
One Parent,
10 & 15
Single Adult
of Working
Age
Pensioner
Living Alone
Expenditure
€573.23
€445.81
€344.90
€255.56
Income
€494.12
€323.37
€278.00
€236.70
Shortfall
- €79.16
€-122.44
-€66.90
-€18.86
Weekly Spend
on Food
€158.35
€123.24
€57.92
€70.29
% of Income
Spent on Food
32%
38.1%
20.8%
29.7%
www.budgeting.ie & www.MISc.ie
Previous Research
•
2000 One Long Struggle – A Study of Low Income Households
•
2004 Low Cost but Acceptable Budget Standards for Three Households
•
2006 Minimum Essential Budgets for Six Households Types (Urban)
•
2008 Minimum Essential Budgets for Six Households Types – Changes during the
Period 2006-2008
•
2010 Minimum Essential Budgets for Six Rural Households Types
•
2012 A Minimum Income Standard for Ireland
•
2012 Minimum Income Standard Calculator (www.MISc.ie)
•
2012 The Cost of a Child
•
2012 Review of Contents of the Expenditure Areas – Baskets
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The Food Basket
• The food baskets are examined by a nutritionist. Based on
needs, not wants.
• The food basket is tailored to each particular household
• Food items are priced in stores identified by focus groups,
the majority of food is bought in Aldi. Meat is bought in a
butcher
• ‘Own Brand’ products purchased
 Food Categories:
• Fruit and Vegetables; Groceries; Meat; Milk & Bread;
Other
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Example of Food Items
Item
Brand
Retailer
Jam
(454g)
Grandessa Aldi
Unit Price
Quantity
Lifespan
Weekly
Cost
€0.99
1
4 weeks
€0.25
Tin of Tuna Ocean
Rise
(185g)
Aldi
€0.59
2
1 week
€1.18
Wheetabix Harvest
(36 pack) Morn
Aldi
€2.09
1
3 weeks
€0.70
The cost of the item is divided by the number of weeks it is
expected to last to ascertain the weekly cost
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Example of a Menu for a Household
2 adults and 2 children aged 10 & 15
Breakfast
MidMorning
4 x 30gr bowl of rice krispies with
4 x 200ml of milk
4 x medium
size pears
7 slices of brown wholemeal
bread, toasted with small portion
of flora ( 2per adult, 2 per for 15
yr old, 1 for 10 yr old)
2 x cup of
tea/coffee
with
35ml of milk
4 x 200ml glass of orange juice
2 x cup of tea with 35ml of milk
Lunch
4 x 2 slices of brown
wholemeal bread (2 per
household member) with
cheese, turkey, portion of
coleslaw and small portion
of
flora
2 x 200ml glass of diluted
orange
2 x cup of tea/coffee and
35ml of milk
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Household Menu (Cont’d)
Mid Afternoon
Dinner
Evening Snack
4 x 2 plain biscuits
4 x beef stew with portion
of carrots, portion of
onions, portion of broccoli
and 7 medium size boiled
potatoes (two each for
parents and 15 yr old, 1
for 10 yr old)
4 x white scones with
small portion of flora
and jam
2 slices of white
bread, toasted with
slice of ham and small
portion of flora
(15
year old)
4 x medium size
oranges
2 x 200ml glass
of diluted orange
2 x cup of
tea/coffee with 35ml of
milk
4 x 200ml glass of milk
2 x 200ml of warm
milk with coco
2 x cup of tea with
35ml of milk
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The Cost of a Child
• Four distinct child ages in the research:
• Infancy; Pre-school; Primary School and
Second Level
• Figures show the direct cost of a child as part
of a household
• The cost of a child varies considerably by age
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The Cost of a Child 2013 (Urban)
Infant
Pre-school
Primary
School
Second
Level
Direct Weekly Cost*
€90.89
€54.84
€88.19
€137.66
Weekly Expenditure
on Food
€31.25
€24.26
€37.48
€49.82
34.4%
44.2%
42.9%
36.2%
2013
Food as a % of
Expenditure
* The direct weekly cost of a child, excluding childcare
and entitlement to secondary benefits such as a
medical card
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Further Information
•www.budgeting.ie
•www.MISc.ie
•www.VPSJ.ie
www.budgeting.ie & www.MISc.ie