Results 1,061-1,080 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the level of care and attention normally required by a child of a similar age and where the level of that disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of care and attention for at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Fuel Allowance is a means-tested payment to assist pensioners and other long-term social welfare dependent householders with their winter heating costs. The payment is a contribution towards heating costs. The payment is made over the winter season - from September to April - at the weekly rate of €33 or, if preferred, by way of two lump sum instalments - one in September and one in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 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 and 17 if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves. In May 2024, Child Benefit became payable to 18 year olds. The number of recipients of Child Benefit for the years 2019 to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

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. In order to qualify for Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, an applicant must satisfy a number of qualifying...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The delivery of locally based Community Welfare Services (CWS) to meet the needs of citizens across the country including in counties Longford and Westmeath is a priority for me and for my Department. The CWS provides a flexible service to meet the different needs of people, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is important that this service is easily...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. It is a condition for receipt of CA that the person being cared for must have such disability that they require full-time...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 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 . The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, decided to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Working Family Payment (WFP), formerly Family Income Supplement, is a weekly in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. To qualify for Working Family Payment the customer must have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them and be working a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight in ongoing insurable employment. WFP for the person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Working Family Payment (WFP), formerly Family Income Supplement, is a weekly in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. To qualify for Working Family Payment the customer must have at least 1 qualified child who normally resides with them and be working a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight in ongoing insurable employment. A request for a review...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: It is widely recognised that forecasting the cost of new Budget measures is an exercise fraught with uncertainty. In the case of measures referenced by the Deputy, all involve: • the costings of measures where a new benefit/service was being offered to a new, and sometimes unknown, cohort of the population. • a costing for which the Department’s data was limited to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Means test rules in my Department are kept under regular review and I have introduced a number of significant changes in recent years including:Providing for higher income disregards. These disregards ensure that, where people are in receipt of a social assistance payment and are working, their income from work up to the level of the income disregard, is not assessed in the means...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 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. The Fuel Allowance is paid to social welfare recipients such as pensioners, people...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 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. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 2nd July 2024. It is a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Contracts (9 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 (EFT). Last year, approximately 69% of all Social Welfare payments were made by EFT and 31% were by cash collection at post offices. A small number of ad hoc payments were also made by cheque. Cash payments are governed by...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: A Guardians payment is made to a person caring for a child who satisfies the definition of an “orphan” under social welfare legislation. A child is considered an orphan if they are under 18 (or 22 if in full time education) and both parents are deceased; or one parent is either dead or unknown or has abandoned and failed to provide for the child and the other parent is unknown...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The National Intreo Contact Centre (NICC) provides a single point of phone contact for customers who are making enquiries to Intreo Centres in relation to services and payments for people of working age. It also operates the National Community Welfare Service (NCWS) phoneline and the MyWelfare Support Helpline. Staff of the NICC are located at various locations across the country. Please find...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides employment supports and services to jobseekers and employers through the Intreo Employment Service. Intreo offers a wide range of supports to assist jobseekers, including those with a disability, to find work. In July 2022, an early engagement process was introduced, the process was targeted initially at young jobseekers with disabilities. Disability Allowance (DA)...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: While it is acknowledged that most people on a social welfare payment are claiming the correct entitlement due to them, my Department has a duty to ensure that it pays the right person, the right amount of money, at the right time. Therefore, it is important that all schemes are subject to on-going control reviews and eligibility checks. Just over 7,500 control reviews were carried out on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme is the safety net within the overall social welfare system, in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Maternity Benefit its payable for 26 weeks to employees, who are on Maternity Leave from work, and the self-employed, where they satisfy the Pay Related Social Insurance contributions and other qualifying conditions. A further 14 weeks unpaid Maternity Leave is also available. Paternity Leave and Benefit are available to eligible parents for two weeks. Since August, nine weeks Parent’s...