Written answers

Wednesday, 26 January 2005

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Social Welfare Benefits

9:00 pm

Photo of Eamon GilmoreEamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 534: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has plans to revise the income limit for the rent allowance; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this outdated limit is causing severe hardship for some households; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34280/04]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Supplementary welfare allowance is not normally payable to people in full-time employment. Arrangements have been in place for a number of years, however, which allow people to retain a portion of their rent supplement when they take up employment through the back to work scheme and other approved schemes. The weekly household income limit in such cases, the ones to which the Deputy refers, is €317.43. While the €317.43 income limit has not changed in recent years, significant changes have been made to the means test.

Back to work allowance and family income supplement, in cases where one or both of them are in payment, are disregarded in the assessment of household income. PRSI and reasonable travelling expenses are also disregarded in the means test. In effect, this means that people who commence employment through a back to work scheme, following a period of unemployment, can have a weekly household income significantly in excess of the €317.43 limit and still qualify to retain 75% of their rent or mortgage interest supplement. For example, in the first year of their participation in the back to work allowance scheme, a single person can have a combined income, from the back to work allowance and wages, of €429, while a couple with two children can have a combined income of €528.25. The thresholds increase each year in the budget.

Other improvements have also been made. The period for which rent supplement may be retained has been extended to four years on a tapered basis, such as 75% in the first year, 50% in the second year and 25% in the third and fourth years. In addition, the maximum payment limit of €317.43 per month on the amount of supplement payable was abolished for people on the approved schemes. As a consequence, many families now retain more of their rent supplement than they did before these changes took place.

A participant in a back to work scheme can opt to be assessed under standard rules or retention rules. He or she will be entitled to receive payment under the more favourable option. Under standard assessment rules, rent supplements are calculated to ensure that an eligible person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to his or her family circumstances, less a minimum contribution of €13 which each recipient is required to pay from his or her own resources. Family income supplement is also disregarded in the standard means test. If the employment is part time — less than 30 hours per week — up to €50, increasing to €60 from the end of January 2005, is disregarded in the means test, ensuring that a person is better off as a result of taking up such an opportunity.

The current eligibility thresholds and disregards, together with improvements in the standard rules of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, ensure that people have a financial incentive to take up back-to-work opportunities. The effectiveness of the arrangements will be considered further in the context of a review of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which the Department of Social and Family Affairs is undertaking during 2005.

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 535: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will consider raising the rate of the fuel allowance; if he will further consider a reduced or a half rate payment for the months during which the allowance is awarded to cover reduced but significant fuel expenses for many elderly persons, in particular during these months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34626/04]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders in receipt of long-term social welfare or health board payments to meet their additional heating needs during the winter season from October to April. Under the scheme, a fuel allowance of €9 per week is paid to eligible households during the 29-week period, with an additional €3.90 per week being paid in designated smokeless fuel zones, bringing the total amount in such areas to €12.90 per week. Many pensioners and other households qualify for electricity or gas allowances through the household benefits package, payable towards their heating, light and cooking costs throughout the year.

A facility is available through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to assist people in certain circumstances with special heating needs. An application for heating supplement may be made by contacting a community welfare officer at any local health centre. Significant increases have been provided in recent years in all primary social welfare pension, benefit and assistance rates. The social welfare rate increases have consistently exceeded the growth in the consumer price index, leading to real improvements in the financial ability of social welfare clients to meet their basic living expenses throughout the year.

As an increase in the rate of fuel allowance or the provision of modified allowance rates for an extended period each year would have significant cost implications, it would have to be considered in a budgetary context.

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