Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive on behalf of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, provides for the payment of rent supplement to eligible people whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs.

Under standard assessment rules, rent supplements are calculated to ensure that an eligible person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of basic supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to his or her family circumstances, less a minimum contribution, currently €13, which each recipient is required to pay from his or her resources. Where a person has an additional income as a result of participation on a training course or in part-time employment, the standard means test now provides for a weekly disregard of up to €60 per week of additional income, with half of any additional income between €60 and €90 also disregarded for means assessment purposes. For those participating in approved training courses, any lunch or travel allowances paid may also be disregarded. In addition, certain training courses now provide a child care allowance to participants on certain courses. The 2006 budget provided that these child care allowances are to be treated in the same manner as a lunch or travel allowance and disregarded.

With the exception of those participating in approved employment schemes, people engaged in full-time remunerative employment are excluded from receiving assistance under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. This requirement is set out in the Social Welfare Act and has been a feature of the scheme since it was established in 1977. In recent years, this provision had been bypassed by the practice of applications being made by the spouse or partner of a person in full-time employment.

In the 2004 budget, measures were introduced to give effect to the original intention that the supplementary welfare allowance should not be paid in households with full-time open market employment. Paying a rent supplement to working households clearly goes beyond the income support objective of the rent supplement scheme and into the areas of housing provision and wage subsidisation.

The Health Service Executive has been contacted concerning this case and has advised that the person concerned had been in receipt of rent supplement of €999.90 per month. As part of a routine review, the executive requested details of income and tenancy from the person concerned. The executive suspended payment of rent supplement when the details were not forthcoming from the person concerned.

The community welfare officer subsequently discovered that the person concerned had been married in April 2006. Following further investigation, it came to light that the husband of the person concerned is in full-time remunerative employment. The executive has further advised that the person concerned would not have an entitlement to rent supplement from the date of her marriage as, under social welfare legislation, a person may not receive rent supplement if that person or his or her spouse or partner is engaged in full-time employment.

The executive has further advised that any arrears due to the person concerned for the period prior to her marriage would be payable upon receipt of the outstanding documentation. It is open to the person concerned to appeal the decision to the designated appeals officer within the Health Service Executive.

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