Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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11. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide a timeframe for the introduction of the cost-of-living payments announced in budget 2023 that are due to be issued before Christmas 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50308/22]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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50. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeline for cost-of-living payments issued before Christmas 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50367/22]

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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60. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when cost-of-living payments scheduled before Christmas 2022 will issue to recipients; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50532/22]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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74. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost-of-living supports her Department announced in budget 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49689/22]

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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82. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will outline all of the cost-of-living measures and payments due in 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50598/22]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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This question relates to providing a timeframe for the introduction of the cost-of-living payments announced in the budget. It has possibly been publicised since this question was tabled but will the Minister talk us through that please?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 50, 60, 74 and 82 together.

In response to the ongoing cost-of-living pressures as part of budget 2023 I secured more than €2.1 billion in new measures. This is the largest social protection package in the history of the State. Recognising that the autumn and winter period is the most expensive time of the year for many households, rather than waiting until the new year, €1.1 billion of this package has been targeted to provide for a wide range of lump-sum payments which will be paid out in the coming months. These payments are in addition to a wide range of increases that will come into effect from January. My Department is currently putting in place the necessary IT systems and administrative processes to administer the various lump-sum payments. The cost-of-living supports recently announced will be paid on the following dates: the autumn cost-of-living double-week payment to most weekly social protection schemes will be paid during the week commencing 17 October 2023. That is next week. The double payment of child benefit to support families with children will be paid alongside the regular child benefit that is due to be paid on 1 November. Families who receive child benefit will get a double payment on 1 November.

The following cost-of-living measures will be paid during the week commencing 14 November. There will be a €400 lump-sum fuel allowance payment to all households receiving the fuel allowance; a €200 lump-sum payment for pensioners and people with a disability receiving the living alone allowance; a €500 lump-sum payment to all families in receipt of the working family payment and a €500 lump-sum payment to those on disability allowance, blind pension and invalidity pension; and a €500 lump-sum payment will be paid to those in receipt of the carer’s support grant during the week commencing 21 November 2022. In addition a 100% Christmas bonus will be paid to long-term social welfare recipients during the week beginning 5 December 2022.

In addition to these measures in 2022 I announced a series of measures as part of budget 2023 which take effect in January. These include a €12 increase which will be provided on weekly payments with additional increases to those people with qualified adults; an increase in the income thresholds on working family payment by €40 across the board. This will benefit working families on the payment by up to €24 per week.

There is a significant increase in the income threshold for people over 70. From 1 January 2023 it will be €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple. That means a single person can earn up to €500 a week and a couple can earn €1,000 per week. In addition I am improving the standard fuel allowance means test for the scheme, for those under 70, by raising the means limit from €120 to €200 above the contributory pension rate. This means people will be able to earn €200 above the contributory pension rate from 1 January 2023 and it will not be taken into account when assessing the fuel allowance.

This is something that has been brought up with me during the year and I changed it. That is an improvement.

I am raising the qualified child payment rate for children under 12 by €2, raising it to €42, and by €2 for children over 12 as well, bringing that rate up to €50 per week. Over the past three budgets, we have now increased the under-12 rate by €6 and over-12 rate by €10.

I also announced that we will amend these rules so parents can qualify for domiciliary care allowance when babies do not leave hospital but would otherwise have qualified for the payments. There was a situation where the child had to be at home before people could qualify for the domiciliary care allowance. For some people, having a child in hospital is a very difficult time and there is a lot of extra expense. Even if the child has never been able to come home, unfortunately, we will let them qualify for the domiciliary care allowance.

I am increasing the rate of payment for the domiciliary care allowance, which is monthly, from €309.50 to €330. I am also increasing the earnings disregard on disability allowance to €165 per week to allow those people with disabilities who can work to earn more and retain their social welfare payment. That is a very important measure because there are some people for whom it might be helpful to work part time. This is means they can still keep their payment and do some work. I would encourage them to look at that if they can.

The Government also announced a range of other measures to support households throughout the winter period, in particular three further energy credits, totalling €600, which will be paid to all households, with the first of these being paid before the end of the year.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for that comprehensive response. It has been an absolutely historic budget. As the Minister said, it has been the largest ever package to get money back into people’s pockets. That has been welcomed by an awful lot of people. The Minister has done a great job of supporting people on low incomes who need help, support and intervention the most. She has also catered for the squeezed middle who were once considered to have decent jobs and wages and are now finding that they are struggling to make ends meet. This budget and the welfare announcements that the Minister made in respect of the €2.1 billion achieve that.

A couple of constituents have been in touch with me about getting letters now asking for a review of their circumstances before they receive any payments. This might be something that happens every couple of years, I am not sure. Perhaps the Minister could clarify if it is in relation to this in particular.

I also wish to acknowledge the changes the Minister made around the fuel allowance eligibility criteria with the half-rate for carers and the disability payments not being taken into account for the means test. Those are issues I raised with the Minister in this Chamber and it fantastic to see her taking on board so much of the feedback she gets here and making it happen. That is what changes people’s circumstances at home.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The Minister did well on the budget. What she did will make a huge difference to many people.

I have two points. First, is the Minister doing anything to ensure that people know what they are entitled to with the changes that have come in? Some of the changes are quite complicated, people may have to apply and may not know that. Are there information leaflets being given out to people or whatever?

Second, it strikes me that many people will be getting a lot of cash. Will the Minister ensure that people will be made aware that they can lodge to their bank account through the post office rather than carrying a lot of cash home? It is one thing that strikes me. It is great to see people getting all this money, but if they have it in cash, especially older people, vulnerable people or people with disabilities, it can lead them being vulnerable to robbery and so forth. Perhaps they can lodge it at the post office or in their bank account through the post office. Some people do not realise that they can do that and will travel to the bank, which may be far away, not knowing they can do it through the post office.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On the issue of cash, for those who will collect it in their post office, I would tell them to lodge it in their bank account or go to their credit union and put it in there. The credit union is the place to put it. They can take it out when they need it. It is the best way they can manage it. I know from working in a credit union that many a person got extra money and the sensible people went in, put in the credit union and took it out when they needed it. Most credit unions have ATMs as well. That is where they should go with it.

On the means test, the Deputy is right that I do listen here. There are a load of things raised with me during the year, so I was glad I was about to take some of those views on board from across the House and make the difference.

The Deputy talked about the review. There are continual reviews always taking place. We review payments because people’s circumstances change and we need to have the up-to-date information. We have limited resources and we want to target them at those most in need. If people’s circumstances change and they win the lotto, they need to make social protection aware of the changed circumstances. There are reviews ongoing all the time. That is part of our control measures as well - to make sure that when people are receiving the allowances, they are entitled to them and need them. That is part of social welfare and it is important that we carry out those checks and balances.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her explanation on reviews. As I said, a constituent of mine has been in touch on this. She is working two seasonal part-time jobs and she is a lone parent. In situations such as hers and in all situations, we absolutely have to have control measures and means-testing. However, I hope that our means test will not be mean enough to discourage people from going out, working and bettering their lives and circumstances.

I thank the Minister for all that she has done. The increased payments and lump sums will be very welcome this winter. I agree with Deputy Stanton when it comes to information campaigns. I would love to know how we are reaching out to people who may not have been eligible for the likes of fuel allowance who are likely now to become eligible to make sure that they are getting the information that the entitlement changed and they should apply for it. I am doing much work with my senior citizens groups in Lucan and Clondalkin to make sure that word gets out there. I would love to get an update on what the Department is doing nationwide.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There will be a campaign, of course, to tell people what they are entitled to and what they should apply for. On the expanded fuel allowance, we hope to target an additional 81,000 homes with the changes to the means test for the over-70s. Just in case people are wondering, we have to change our systems to do that and we are putting together an application form, which we hope to have ready at the end of the year or early next year. However, they will get it from 1 January. If they do not get the money immediately, it will backdated to 1 January.

We are doing everything we can. The staff in social protection have done tremendous work over the past number of years. We had the pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis. There are many payments that we need to get out before the end of the year. We want to do them in a way that people get them and there are no hiccups. We have to be careful that our IT systems and programmes are written properly so that they are secure and safe. It is a process that needs attention.

We will inform people. I was out in Tallaght in Dublin yesterday-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time and trying to squeeze in one last bit.