Results 841-860 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: In fairness to most employers, generally they try to be flexible because my attitude has always been, if you give a little you usually get far more back. Partial capacity payment should perhaps be promoted more; I accept that. To be fair to the Department of Social Protection, it is good at telling people the options available to them when it replies to them. We will make sure they are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Government acknowledges the valuable role family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the programme for Government and the national carers’ strategy. My Department provides a comprehensive package of carers’ income supports including carer’s allowance, carer’s benefit, domiciliary care...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. At the onset of the pandemic, the Government acted early and without hesitation to support all workers who contracted Covid-19. Workers outside the public sector could avail of an enhanced illness benefit payment and eligibility criteria were set to include the largest cohort of workers possible, including the self-employed. The scheme paid some...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides two main payment options for its customers, payment in cash at post offices or payment directly into customer accounts by electronic fund transfer. Last year, approximately 70% of all Social Welfare payments were made by electronic fund transfer and 29.5% were by cash collection at post offices. A relatively small number of payments were also made by cheque. Where...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: International Protection (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department administers the Daily Expenses Allowance on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The allowance is paid to International Protection applicants who live in or are on a waiting list to move into accommodation provided by the International Protection Accommodation Services. The weekly rate is €38.80 for an adult and €29.80...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget 2025 (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: There are two primary social welfare supports available from my Department which are specifically for one parent families. These are the One Parent Family Payment and the Jobseeker's Transitional Payment. Lone parents may be eligible for other payments such as the Working Family Payment Back to Work Family Dividend and the Back to School Clothing and Footwear scheme. The Budget 2024...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Programme for Government (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has 35 individual Programme for Government commitments and I am pleased to say that significant progress has been made on their implementation. The following is a summary of progress on the key commitments: The last two successive social welfare Budget packages have been the largest in the history of the State with €2.2 and €2.3 billion invested in protecting the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.7 billion this year. Carer's Benefit is available to people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget 2025 (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I am fully committed to making the case for a fair budget that protects the people most in need in our society - particularly families on low incomes and those people, including pensioners and carers, who are dependent on social protection payments. No decisions have been made in terms of the composition of next year's Budget. As part of Budget 2024, I secured a €2.3 billion Social...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Household Benefits Package comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. The Department of Social Protection will spend approximately €294 million this year on the Household Benefits Package for over 529,000 customers. People over the age of 70 receive the Household Benefits Package, with one package provided per household. The package is also...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Welfare Service is committed to providing a quality service to all citizens, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. It is a key service providing Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance payments, Additional Needs Payments, Rent and other supplement applications. Approximately 16,900 claims handled during the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The primary support for jobseeker's is available under the social insurance based Jobseeker's Benefit scheme or the means tested Jobseeker's Allowance scheme. In circumstances where full-time work is not available, these schemes provide that a person can work up to 3 days per week where they are fully unemployed for at least four in any seven consecutive days. Currently, almost 21,000...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made in a timely manner. My Department understands the pressures faced by people and always seeks to ensure that claims are processed quickly and efficiently. The processing time for individual Disability Allowance (DA) claims may vary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Persons who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled. In 2023 the total value of overpayments - as a percentage of total scheme expenditure was approximately 0.48%. The table below sets out the number of overpayments raised and the associated value of those cases where an element of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget 2025 (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Any changes to weekly social welfare payments, including jobseeker's allowance, will be announced as part of Budget 2025.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: As you will be aware, the Citizens Information Service (CIS) comprises of eight regional companies that are funded by the Citizens Information Board (CIB), the statutory body funded by my Department. The Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS) is also funded by CIB. As I have stated on many occasions, I absolutely acknowledge and value the important information, advice and advocacy...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Government is keenly aware of issues in relation to child poverty, and these formed a critical input into the development of Budget 2024 which included a social welfare package of almost €2.3 billion. The Budget measures are progressive and proportionately benefit those in lower income quintiles most. It is important that this momentum is maintained for Budget 2025. Child Benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Parent’s Benefit is a payment for employed people, who are on Parent’s Leave from work, and self-employed people who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. Parent's Leave and Benefit are available to all eligible parents of children born or adopted from 1 November 2019 and must be availed of within the first two years of the child’s life or adoption....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €382 million in 2024. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per household. In Budget 2023, the Government announced the largest ever expansion of the Fuel...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made in a timely manner. My Department understands the pressures faced by people and always seeks to ensure that claims are processed quickly and efficiently. When determining someone’s suitability for Disability Allowance (DA),...