Results 13,741-13,760 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 694 and 696 together. The Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) was introduced as an exceptional measure in response to the unprecedented impact on employment and earnings as a result of Government mandated public health measures. To date expenditure on the scheme is over €8.6 billion. Since the gradual lifting of restrictions and the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: All persons in receipt of a Jobseeker’s payment are required to be seeking full time work and are also required to engage with the Department’s activation service. This obligation applies irrespective of whether the service is provided by the Department’s own case officers or those employed by the Local Employment Service or by JobPath companies. Customers referred...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Paternity Benefit is payable at €245 a week, for a maximum of two weeks. Paternity Benefit is a payment to employed and self-employed people who: - are on paternity leave from work - meet the relevant social insurance conditions (PRSI) It is available for any child born or adopted after 1st September 2016 If a person is already on certain social welfare payments, they may get...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Paternity Benefit is a payment for employed and self-employed people who are on Paternity Leave from work who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. It is paid for two weeks and is available in respect of any child born or adopted on or after 1 September 2016. Paternity Benefit is paid at €245 per week, the same rate as Maternity Benefit, Adoptive Benefit and Parent’s...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Illness benefit is paid for a maximum of 2 years or 624 claim paid days. The person concerned commenced claiming Illness Benefit from the 5th September 2019, and his entitlement to payment of Illness Benefit is due to exhaust on the 8th September 2021.  A letter issued to the person concerned on the 10th June 2021 advising him that his entitlement to the payment was due to exhaust...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, decided to disallow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision on 26 January 2021. A decision of an Appeals Officer is generally final apart from in some limited circumstances. Social Welfare legislation allows an Appeals Officer to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned submitted an application for disability allowance (DA) on 13 July 2021. Their application, based upon all the evidence submitted, was refused on medical grounds as it was not found that the person concerned was substantially restricted in taking up employment. The person concerned was notified in writing of this decision on 5 August 2021 and was also notified of their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned has been awarded invalidity pension with effect from 15 July 2021. Payment will issue to her nominated bank account on 16 September 2021. Any arrears due from 15 July 2021 to 15 September 2021 (less any overlapping social welfare payment) will issue in due course. The person concerned was notified of this decision on 01 September 2021. I hope this clarifies the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that Office on 30 July 2021. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers were received in the Social Welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Direct Provision System (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I welcome the fact that my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has brought the White Paper to end Direct Provision and to establish a new International Protection Support Service to Government, which will meet the Government commitment to end direct provision. This White Paper outlines a model for developing a new International Protection...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I confirm that an application from the person concerned for disability allowance (DA) was received by the Department on 6 July 2021. The processing time for individual DA claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main qualifying criteria, the person’s circumstances and the information they provide in support of their claim. The application has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 1 September 2021. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these papers have been received from the Department, the appeal will be referred to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Entitlement to illness benefit or other PRSI dependent payments will not be adversely affected for persons entitled to and in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP). PRSI contributions are attributed to persons on PUP at the same value as they were paying while employed immediately before commencing PUP. I hope that this clarifies the position at this time.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned made an application for an Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) on 10/08/2021.  This claim was disallowed as it was determined, based on the application and supporting documentation provided, that the need was not exceptional and it was considered reasonable that the person concerned had sufficient means to cover the costs of the items from their household income....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Jobseekers Allowance is a means tested income support payment for people who are unable to obtain full time employment and satisfy the scheme’s statutory conditions. The revised estimated expenditure for the Jobseekers Allowance scheme in 2021 is approximately €1.64 billion. Social welfare legislation provides that students who are attending a full-time course of study are not...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. I am advised that there is no current application registered for the person concerned for CA. If the person in question wishes to make an application, she should complete and return an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned applied for and received the full standard 26 weeks of Maternity Benefit in 2020, amounting to €6370.  However, she returned to employment during her Maternity leave period, and as a result she was not qualified for receipt of Maternity Benefit for that period.  An overpayment of €1,225 (5 weeks at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Flexible Work Practices (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Civil Service departments and offices have been working in line with Government Covid-19 guidance, which provided for home working to continue where possible. As an essential service, staff in my Department have continued, throughout the pandemic, to work both on site in office premises and remotely to deliver for our customers across our nationwide network of offices. The number of staff...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Flexible Work Practices (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Civil Service departments and offices have been working in line with Government Covid-19 guidance, which provided for home working to continue where possible. As an essential service, staff in my Department have continued, throughout the pandemic, to work both on site in office premises and remotely to deliver for our customers across our nationwide network of offices. The number of staff who...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (9 Sep 2021)

Heather Humphreys: When the contributory pension was introduced in 1961 many workers had not been given the opportunity to build up social insurance contributions for all their working life. As such, the yearly average, and banded payments, were used to calculate the rate of payment - otherwise people would have had to wait and contribute for a considerable number of years to achieve a reasonable pension...