Government plans to simplify the child benefit system were voted through the upper house of parliament or senate on Tuesday with a big majority.

The new system will reduce the current 11 different benefits to four and will save the government an estimated €500m a year.

The upper house was concerned that single parents with a partner in prison or in a care home would lose out on an extra benefit of €242 a month, because under the new system they would no longer be considered as single.

Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher has adjusted that ruling to include these parents for an extra year.

The new system will be introduced in 2015.