Mr. R?n?n Hession:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to attend in order to discuss disability inclusive social protection. I am the assistant secretary general at the Department of Social Protection with responsibility for working-age income supports, including disability payments. I am joined by my colleague, Ms Sarah Waters, who is principal in the area.

In advance of today’s meeting, we provided a detailed briefing note which I hope has been of assistance. In the time allotted to me for my opening statement, I will touch on the key themes that have been identified as being of interest to the committee.

The development of services and policies to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities is a whole-of-government responsibility. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is the lead Department in co-ordinating these efforts, but we all have our part to play. In the Department of Social Protection, we are implementing a voluntary early engagement approach for young people with disabilities. This has already been introduced for those aged 18 to 22 years and is now being rolled out to those between age 22 and 25 years. We are also reviewing the reasonable accommodation fund and the disability awareness support scheme, following an extensive consultation process. This review is close to being finalised. We will review the wage subsidy scheme later this year.

It is critical that the welfare-to-work journey is as smooth as possible. We have introduced a number of measures to enable this transition: a benefit of work estimator for disabled people, which helps calculate the net benefit of entering or returning to work; the free travel pass can be retained for five years by people with a long-term disability in receipt of the disability allowance who go on to take up employment; and where a person exits a disability payment to enter employment, they can be fast-tracked back to the payment if they need to revert within 12 months.

On eligibility thresholds and benefit levels, including means testing, social welfare disability payments generally fall into one of two categories. The first category is based on social insurance contributions. These payments are not means tested and examples include invalidity pension and illness benefit. A person who does not have enough PRSI contributions to qualify for a social insurance payment may apply for a means-tested payment, such as disability allowance. The application of the means test ensures that scarce resources are targeted to those with greatest income need.

The disability allowance means test includes an earnings disregard, which has increased by almost 38% over the last three budgets. This means that a person can now earn up to €165 before their disability allowance or blind pension payment is affected. I should explain that the disregard operates on a taper, which means that a person can earn up to €495 per week before they lose their payment. It is important to clarify this point as there is a common misconception that a person on disability allowance can only earn up to €165, which is not the case.

I know the committee is interested in the question of moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach. The Department is examining this in the context of the road map for social inclusion commitment to develop and consult on a straw man proposal for the restructuring of long-term disability payments. This will also look at simplifying the system and removing inconsistencies and anomalies, while also ensuring that we recognise the continuum of disabilities and support employment. The cost of disability research report that was published by our Department in 2021, is also feeding into the preparation of the straw man proposals. Work on the straw man is at an advanced stage and publication is expected in the coming months. A wider consultation process will be carried out with all stakeholders and advocacy groups following publication.

An important part of the UNCRPD implementation involves measures to provide an adequate standard of living and social protection. This is core to the work of our Department. The 2023 budget package for disabled people included a mix of lump sum payments and increases to rates, including: a cost-of-living double payment for all social protection recipients; a €500 cost-of-living disability support grant;a €400 lump-sum fuel allowance payment; a €200 lump sum payment for pensioners and people with a disability receiving the living alone allowance; a Christmas bonus double payment; increases of €12 to the maximum weekly rates of payment on our schemes; a €200 cost of living lump sum, paid last month; and increases in the means assessment threshold for fuel allowance from €120 to €200.

As outlined, the Department seeks to support the participation of disabled people in work and society more broadly. We do this through our income supports, our employment services and the way we do our business. Several of my colleagues gave the percentages of disabled people working in their organisations. The figure for our Department is 6.8%.

Of course, we recognise the significant challenges faced by disabled people. I have endeavoured to identify tangible measures we have taken to address these and our plans to do more in this space. We will be happy to assist with any questions the committee may have.