Results 9,621-9,640 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Ukraine War (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In accordance with the Temporary Protection Directive implemented in March, people fleeing the war in Ukraine have been granted the status to avail of the supports and services, including income supports and employment services, provided by my Department. This means that they can work in Ireland and access social services and the full range of social welfare supports. A reception...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department engaged with the Institute of Employment Studies and Social Finance in 2019 to research and develop best practice models for new employment services. These bodies have established track-records of helping governments develop fit-for-purpose employment services. My Department engaged with these consultants, ensuring their proposals were appropriately configured for the Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Social welfare legislation provides that means tests take account of the income and assets of the person (and their spouse or partner, if applicable) applying for the relevant scheme. The means assessment includes income from employment, self-employment, occupational pensions and maintenance payments. It also includes property owned other than the family home and capital such as savings,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My department understands the many pressures faced by claimants and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. I am pleased to report that claim processing is up to date, with processing targets met, or exceeded, on average for all the main scheme areas, including Carer’s Allowance (CA). The target processing time for Carer's Allowance is to process 75%...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. It is a targeted payment to people dependent on specified long-term social welfare payments. The purpose of this payment is to assist those households most in need with their energy costs. The Government is acutely aware of recent price increases and their impact on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has, since 2019, been developing a new model of externally provided public employment services. This is a legal requirement to ensure such services are procured through a competitive open procurement process. Since the beginning of this process in 2019, my Department has engaged extensively with existing providers and representative bodies, including the Irish Local Development...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (14 Jul 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 administrative 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 person's own resources and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rights of People with Disabilities (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Indecon report identified that the additional costs of disability run across a number of areas of expenditure including: housing, equipment, aids and appliances, mobility, transport and communications, medicines, care and assistance services and additional living expenses. As such the ‘Cost of Disability’ is significantly wider than the income support system. Indecon also...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 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 administrative umbrella 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 153 and 524 together. The Household Benefits Package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €273 million this year on HHB for over 492,000 customers. The package is generally available to people living in the State aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The scheme operates from June to September each year. This year, the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance payment has been increased by €100 for the 2022 scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a range of income supports for full-time carers including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined spending on all these payments to carers in 2022 is estimated to exceed €1.5 billion. Carer’s Allowance is the primary income support through which the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In May 2022 my Department introduced a grant to offer help to people who suffer hair loss due to illness. The grant operates under the Treatment Benefit scheme and provides up to €500 for one hairpiece or wig each year. The Scheme is for insured workers, the self-employed and retired people who have the required number of social insurance (PRSI) contributions and their dependent...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reviews (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In line with the Programme for Government commitment, the Government established a Child Maintenance Review Group to examine certain issues in relation to child maintenance in Ireland. The Group was chaired by former Circuit Court Judge Catherine Murphy and included legal, policy and academic professionals as well as officials from my Department and the Department of Justice. The Group's...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rights of People with Disabilities (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The development of services and policies to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities operates through a cross government framework with other departments, agencies and, importantly, disability sector representatives, under a number of key national strategies and action plans. The two main national strategies in this area are the National Disability Inclusion Strategy and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Indecon report found that there is not a single typical ‘cost of disability’, rather there is a spectrum from low additional costs to extremely high extra costs of disability, depending on the individual circumstances of the person concerned. The additional costs of disability identified by Indecon run across a number of areas of expenditure including: housing, equipment,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Farm Assist is a statutory income support specifically for farmers on low-incomes. There are approximately 4,700 claims in payment at present. The Government has provided €53.9 million for the scheme for 2022. Further to the commitment in the Programme for Government and in the Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, my Department recently reviewed the means assessment disregards for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Young people in the labour market (those under 25 years of age) can be particularly affected by labour market disruptions. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate for 2019 averaged approximately 12.5 percent. However, after the onset of the pandemic, the CSO’s ‘COVID-19 adjusted’ monthly youth unemployment rate – which...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides individuals who have an urgent or exceptional income need which they cannot meet from their own resources or where an alternative is not available at that time with access to the Additional Needs Payment. The Additional Needs Payment covers both Urgent Needs and Exception Needs payments. Table 1 shows the breakdown of closed applications for Additional Needs Payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Social welfare legislation provides that means tests take account of the income and assets of the person (and their spouse or partner, if applicable) applying for the relevant scheme. Income and assets include income from employment, self-employment, occupational pensions, maintenance payments as well as property owned (other than the family home) and capital such as savings, shares, and...