Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The payments are extensive. They include the basic weekly payments, rent and mortgage interest supplements, diet supplements, miscellaneous other supplements, exceptional needs payments, and urgent needs payments. Total expenditure on the supplementary welfare allowance scheme in 2008 was €882 million, which is a substantial amount of money. The Department funds the HSE on the basis of the proportion of the community welfare officer's time that is spent administering SWA, as opposed to activities carried out for other organisations such as medical card assessments for the HSE or homeless services on behalf of local authorities.

The issue of increased demand on existing resources is a matter for the HSE in the first instance to prioritise workloads and redeploy resources where necessary so that front line services are maintained. My Department is working closely with the HSE to ensure effective delivery of services and any request by the HSE for an additional staffing allocation will be given due consideration. The question of any increase in expenditure for staffing within the community welfare service, above that currently provided, would have to be considered in the context of overall Government policy on public service manpower levels. In 2008, the Department paid the HSE €58.3 million in administration costs, which was used to fund 636 community welfare officer posts, 58 superintendent community welfare officer posts and 172 additional support staff.

As I mentioned earlier, recourse to the supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, is an important resource for people waiting for their jobseeker's claim to be decided upon. A long processing time in some areas can lead to increased demand for the SWA. Extra staff have been assigned to the Department's social welfare local offices and, hopefully, this will speed up the processing and relieve some of the pressure on the community welfare officers.

The motion before the House tonight also refers to the mortgage interest supplement scheme, which is designed to help those who run into difficulties with meeting their mortgage repayment schedule when their income drops significantly. There has been much mention of the loss of a job being the worst thing that could happen to somebody, but losing one's home must come very close to that. The most recent figures indicate that approximately 11,000 people are in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, an increase of almost 7,000 over the number receiving payment at end 2007. This is a significant number. If Members feel we have not advertised this relief adequately, I will be happy to do that. Whenever I mention the relief in the media, I notice an increase in the uptake. People like to know it is there.

The provision for this demand-led scheme has increased from €12 million to almost €30 million and will continue to be monitored on an ongoing basis in light of the current economic circumstances. The supplement assists with the interest portion of the mortgage repayments only, in respect of a house which is the person's sole place of residence. The capital element of the repayment is not taken into account in calculating the amount of supplement payable as it is not considered appropriate that the Exchequer should repay part of the initial loan and thereby provide assistance towards the accumulation of a capital asset on the part of the individual concerned. The HSE must be satisfied that the loan agreement was entered into at a time when the person was in a position to meet the repayments.

The amount of the mortgage interest payable by the claimant must also not exceed such amount as the HSE considers reasonable to meet the claimant's residential and other needs. In exceptional circumstances, the HSE may award a supplement where the amount of mortgage interest payable by a person exceeds such amount as the HSE considers reasonable to meet his or her residential and other needs. Such a supplement is payable for a maximum of 12 months from the date of the claim.

Mortgage interest supplements are normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of mortgage interest, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to their family circumstances less a minimum contribution, of €18, which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. Many recipients pay more than €18 because they are also required, subject to income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate basic social welfare allowance rate towards their accommodation costs. The existing mortgage interest supplement assessment provides for a gradual withdrawal of payment as hours of employment or earnings increase. In recent years, improvements have been made to the means test to encourage eligible people to engage in employment without losing their entire mortgage interest supplement. Those availing of part-time employment — less than 30 hours a week — and-or training opportunities can continue to receive mortgage interest supplement subject to their satisfying the standard means assessment rules.

Since June 2007, where a person has additional income in excess of the standard weekly rate of supplementary welfare allowance, the first €75 of such additional income together with 25% of any additional income above €75 is disregarded for means assessment purposes. This ensures that those returning to work or participating in training schemes are better off as a result of taking up such an opportunity.

We appreciate that becoming unable to meet one's mortgage payments is a hugely stressful situation. By helping with the interest part of the mortgage, this scheme significantly reduces the burden on people who would otherwise be likely to default on their mortgage. However, the advice is that in the first instance, people should negotiate with their lender or financial institution. Many of the mainstream banks are taking a reasonable approach in this regard.

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