Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Naughten for giving me some of his time. I also thank Deputies for their contributions. There has been good engagement. There were always going to be some areas where there were differences, but there has been a broad welcome for the measures in the Bill from all sides of the House. We can never do everything we want in a single budget. There will always be more requests and things that we would like to do. We have struck a fair balance. All analyses shows that the budget is positive, particularly for the most vulnerable. The ESRI stated that the weekly welfare increases, together with the once-off measures, will mean that low-income households will be better off next year than they would if we had just increased welfare rates in line with inflation. There was another this morning from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. It states the Government has the balance right between protecting vulnerable households and avoiding adding to inflation. Any fair-minded person would say that we have got much right in the budget. I would love to do more. There are many things that we would all love to do, but we cannot do it all. We have to try to do things incrementally. We have made some important changes.

Many Deputies raised the community welfare service. The delivery of this crucial service is a priority for me and my Department. I will use this opportunity to update the House. Where people have an urgent need, we want to make sure they can get support. We had a major communications campaign to raise awareness of the additional needs payment. That campaign has worked. We know that because the numbers applying for and receiving the payments has increased. As of October 2022, more than 75,000 applications for additional needs payments have been processed and awarded. This represents a 63% increase in awarded applications compared with the same period in 2021. We have paid an estimated €46 million in additional needs payments so far this year. It is important to say that some of this increase can be attributed to the response to support families arriving from Ukraine.

Generally, where it is clear that people have an immediate need, every effort is made to ensure that they receive a payment on the same day. We all deal with community welfare officers, CWOs, through our constituency offices. When CWOs recognise that there is a clear and urgent need, they are normally good at making sure people are looked after and receive a payment as quickly as possible. Where an application is complete and the required documentation is supplied, it is processed quickly. Where there are delays, it is generally due to additional information or documentation being requested from people to support their applications. My Department has taken a number of steps to simplify and streamline the process for persons applying for additional needs payments. A major public information campaign has been run throughout the year to raise awareness of the payment. We know many people have never been to a CWO and, therefore, we established a new national helpline and phone number people can ring to get advice. There is also a full-time CWO presence in all 50 Intreo offices nationwide from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. CWOs remain available to attend clinics. They can talk to people over the phone. When needed, they can also arrange a house visit by appointment. We are doing everything we can to facilitate and help people.

There are 412 people across all grades in the community welfare service. In light of the increased number of applications, as part of the budget, we secured agreement for approximately 74 additional to be assigned to the community welfare offices. Recruitment of additional staff has commenced and it is anticipated that they will be in place by the first quarter of 2023. In the interim, until these staff have been recruited, 30 social welfare inspectors have been temporarily reassigned to the community welfare service since the start of November to assist with claims processing. While we will not have a full picture until the end of the year, we have started to see a fall-off in applications for additional needs payments over the past few weeks. This can probably be attributed to the various lump sum payments that have been paid out in recent weeks and helped to reduce the financial pressure that many people face. If Deputies have examples of delays, I ask them to pass them on to me or my Department. I commit to looking at those specific instances that are brought to my attention.

The national minimum wage was mentioned here. It will not negatively affect a full-time worker from the point of view of PRSI.

Some Deputies said there was nothing in the budget for lone parents. That is completely wrong. The budget 2023 expenditure report notes that lone parent households stand to benefit from an annual increase in support of €1,872. Analysis using the ESRI's SWITCH model shows that, of household types, lone parents and single retired people benefit the most in proportionate terms from social welfare budget 2023 measures.

Recipients of the one-parent family payment and jobseeker's transitional payment received a double weekly payment in October and will also receive a Christmas bonus double payment in December. Like all families with children, lone parents received a double child benefit payment on 1 November. Lone parents in receipt of the fuel allowance also received a lump sum payment of €400 in November. Half of the payments of the €500 cost-of-living lump sum payment made to recipients of the working family payment in November went to lone parents. There are many lone parents on the working family payment and they were able to benefit from the €500 lump sum.

Budget 2023 also provided for a €40 increase in the weekly income threshold for the working family payment and the personal rate of working-age payments such as one-parent family payment will increase by €12 from €208 to €220 per week, also from January. As I announced last week, I intend to bring forward legislation as soon as possible to disregard child maintenance payments from the social welfare means test. That, too, will be a big help to lone parents.

Another Deputy said working families get nothing. That is a sound bite and is not true. There is a comprehensive tax package to support working families. They will benefit from the universal energy credit of €600 and from the reduction in childcare costs. Where my Department is concerned, all families will benefit from the double child benefit payment. In addition, low-income working families will also benefit from the €500 lump sum and the expansion of the working family payment.

Deputy Flaherty raised the issue of recipients of disablement benefit not receiving fuel allowance. I am pleased to say that both disablement benefit and half-rate carer's allowance will be disregarded from the means test for fuel allowance. I acknowledge the Oireachtas joint committee, which suggested this change. I was heartened to hear the widespread support from all the Deputies for the new over-70s fuel allowance scheme. This will kick in on 1 January. I am aware everybody wanted the scheme introduced today, yesterday or on the day of the budget but we must ensure the IT systems work and that when we put these measures through, we do so in a way that is safe and that payments reach the people they are meant to reach.

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