Results 18,621-18,640 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In May 2022, I announced a series of measures designed to remove barriers facing social welfare customers who choose to accommodate people in their homes. The Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) (Amendment) (No. 10) (Income Disregard) Regulations 2022, S.I. No. 397 of 2022, were signed on 12th of July 2022. In practice, this means that a social welfare customer will be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I can confirm that a letter was received from the person concerned by the disability allowance (DA) section on 04 August 2022 On 11 October 2022 the person concerned was requested to supply supporting documentation required by the deciding officer in order to make a decision on his means. On receipt of this information a decision will be made on his DA entitlement and the person concerned...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16, who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the level of care and attention normally required by a child of the same age. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 12 October 2021. An application for the State Pension (non-contributory) pension was received on 4 March 2022. The application was disallowed as their means exceeded the statutory limit. The person concerned was notified of this decision in writing on 21 March 2022. Under current eligibility conditions for state pension (contributory), an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16, who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and the child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The funding for schemes and services under the remit of the Department of Social Protection for 2022 was considered by the Select Committee on Social Protection and voted on by the Dáil in February 2022. Officials in my Department constantly keep the expenditure of each scheme under review, monitoring expenditure against the published estimate. As announced on Budget Day, my...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16, who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of that required by a child of the same age and the child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months. Eligibility for DCA is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is determined primarily by reference to the degree of additional care and attention required by a child rather than the child's disability. DCA applications are decided by a deciding officer on an individual case by case basis, while also considering the opinion of a Departmental medical assessor. While statistics on overall awards or...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The state pension (contributory), qualification is based on a number of criteria, including that a minimum of 520 qualifying contributions have been paid into the Social Insurance Fund. This ensures that people who seek a contributory pension have made at least 10 years paid contributions into the Social Insurance Fund which finances it. For those who have paid the required contributions at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my Department can make additional needs payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an over-arching administrative term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from a person’s own resources...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 310 and 311 together. Jobseeker's Benefit is a payment for people between 18 and 66 years of age who become fully or partly unemployed and have paid sufficient pay-related social insurance (PRSI) contributions. Jobseeker's Allowance is a means-tested payment made to people who are unemployed. Over the 12-month period from October 2021 to September 2022, there...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly tax-free payment for employees with children which supports people in low paid employment. The WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependents, and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment. It is a targeted measure that is directly linked to household income and therefore directly supports...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly payment in respect of a child aged under 16, who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of that normally required by a child of the same age and the child must be likely to require this level of care for at least 12 consecutive months. Eligibility for DCA is determined primarily by...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department can make additional needs payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources and are deemed...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. All claim decisions taken by the Department’s Deciding Officers and Designated Persons are appealable to the Chief Appeals Officer. In any year about 85% of all...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Carer’s Allowance is a payment to people on low incomes who are caring full-time for a person who needs support because of age, disability or illness (including mental illness). The person being cared for must require full-time care and attention. Over the 12-month period from October 2021 to September 2022, there were 13,810 claims awarded and 7,623 claims disallowed for Carer's Allowance.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: People who are in receipt of a social welfare payment in a post office continue to be paid at their nominated post office for the duration of their claim. Occasionally, if a person cannot be contacted or fails to respond to correspondence from the Department a person’s payment may be transferred to another local post office until contact has been established. This means that the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Judicial Reviews (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: One judicial review has been brought against my Department since it was established in 2017. This relates to a judicial review initiated in 2019 (which is ongoing) into the outcome of a procurement competition for an island transport contract. The cost of the judicial review to date is: €11,543.00.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Projects (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a number of funding streams to assist groups in both rural and urban areas for the refurbishment of community centres. Earlier this year the new Communities Centres Investment Fund (CCIF) was announced with funding of €15 million available to communities in both urban and rural areas for the upgrade and refurbishment of existing community centres. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget 2023 (12 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The personal rate of the widow's contributory pension of the person concerned will increase from a weekly rate of €263.30 to €275.30 from January 2023.The person concerned is also entitled to a living alone allowance of €22 per week. In the budget a number of once off cost of living measures were announced. As part of these measures, the person concerned will be paid a...