Results 3,121-3,140 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The State Pension (Non-Contributory) is a payment made to people aged over 66 whose entitlement is based on a means test. All means tests in my Department are kept under regular review and a number of significant changes have been made in recent years. In 2022, I announced a series of measures designed to remove barriers facing social welfare customers who choose to accommodate people...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children up to the age of 16 years. Currently, the payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 18th birthday where they are in full-time education, or have a disability. In Budget 2024, the Government decided to extend the payment of Child Benefit to 18-year-olds who are in full-time education or have a disability....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children up to the age of 16 years. Currently, the payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 18th birthday where they are in full-time education, or have a disability. In Budget 2024, the Government decided to extend the payment of Child Benefit to 18-year-olds who are in full-time education or have a disability....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Redundancy Payments Act 1967, as amended, provides for the making of payments by employers to employees in respect of redundancy. The purpose of the Redundancy Payments Scheme is to compensate employees for the loss of their job by reason of redundancy in cases where the employer can prove to the satisfaction of my Department that they are unable to make the payment. It is the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Treatment Benefit Scheme provides dental, optical and aural services to insured workers, the self-employed, retired people and their dependant spouse/partner who have the required number of social insurance (PRSI) contributions. In order to qualify, a person needs to have at least 260 PRSI contributions paid at either Class A, E, H, P or S, since first starting work, and also have 39...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Child Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16,17 and will include 18 from May 2024 if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves. Breakdown by area is not available but nationally 87% are paid directly into a financial...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme was approved by Government in November 2009 with a fund of €10m made available. In October 2023, Government approved an additional €3 million in funding for the scheme and agreed to increase the income limit levels for the scheme, giving access to those most in need. The 2023 Revised Estimates provided for expenditure of €0.2 million...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions. My Department received correspondence from the person concerned, notifying a change of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Wage Subsidy Scheme is an employment support to private sector employers, the objective of which is to encourage employment of people with disabilities in the open labour market. There are currently some 1,504 employers availing of the subsidy in respect of some 2,437 participant employees. Estimated expenditure on the Wage Subsidy Scheme in 2024 is €25 million. To claim a subsidy...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I have been advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the appeal for the person concerned has only recently been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Back to Education Allowance provides income support for jobseekers and others in receipt of certain social welfare payments who pursue courses of education at further and higher level. The focus of the scheme is to assist people to improve their qualifications and as a result improve their access to sustainable employment. The Government has provided €35.73 million for the scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children up to the age of 16 years. Currently, the payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 18thbirthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. I have secured approval to bring forward, from September to May, the extension of Child Benefit for 18-year-olds who are in full-time education or who...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The delivery of crucial and locally based community welfare services to meet the challenges and the needs of citizens across the country is a priority for me and for my Department. The Community Welfare Service (CWS) continues to provide a flexible service to meet the different needs of clients, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is important that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Government committed as part of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion to develop and consult on proposals to restructure long-term disability payments and to simplify the system. The proposals developed are set out in the Green Paper on Disability Reform. The Green Paper is a consultation document. No final decisions have been made. The Paper’s purpose is to invite discussion, debate,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Sector Pay (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection, with responsibility for supporting the provision of information, advice (including money and budgeting advice) and advocacy on a wide range of public and social services. CIB provides some services directly to the public and funds and supports a number of different Service...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I have been advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there were 9,508 appeals on hands at the end of 2023 and that 21,875...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: There are a number of payments and pensions paid by my Department to people over State Pension age. One of these is the State Pension (Contributory) or "SPC", qualification for which is based on a number of criteria, including a minimum of 520 qualifying social insurance contributions having been paid. For those who have paid the required contributions, these will be used in the calculation...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: State Pension (Non-Contributory) is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, who have a legal right of residence and habitually reside in the State, and who do not qualify for State Pension contributory, or only qualify for a reduced-rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. The eligibility conditions for State Pension (Non-Contributory) do not require the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (20 Feb 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The delivery of crucial and locally based community welfare services to meet the challenges and the needs of citizens across the country is a priority for me and for my Department. The Community Welfare Service (CWS) continues to provide a flexible service to meet the different needs of clients, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is important that...