Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 118: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on the introduction of a single means test for secondary benefits; his views on such a test; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32281/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The term secondary benefits normally refers to those additional payments available to social welfare recipients who need extra help with meeting the cost of their rent, heating or other expenses. I understand the Deputy is referring principally to Fuel Allowance, Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) and Rent Supplement.

All social assistance payments are subject to a means test. While there are similarities in the specific tests for these secondary benefits, they are designed to meet the objectives of each category of benefit and to ensure that the maximum amount of support is targeted at those most in need. For that reason, it is simply not possible or indeed desirable to have a single means test for all secondary benefits.

The main conditions that apply to the fuel allowance scheme are that a person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment, satisfy a means test and must either be living alone or only with a qualifying dependant. People who already qualify for means-tested pensions or allowances such as state pension (non-contributory), long-term jobseeker's assistance or one-parent family payment do not have to undergo a further means test to qualify for fuel allowance. The majority of people who receive fuel allowance qualify because they satisfy the relevant means test for their primary weekly payment.

A person may qualify for payment of BSCFA in respect of a qualified child or children if they are in receipt of a social welfare payment or Health Service Executive (HSE) payment, or participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and have household income at or below certain set levels. In this case, any family income supplement payable to the family is disregarded for means assessment purposes.

The purpose of rent supplement, administered under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. A person may qualify for rent supplement if they are in receipt of a social welfare payment or Health Service Executive (HSE) payment, or participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and have household income at or below certain set levels . In this case, any family income supplement payable to the family is taken into account for means assessment purposes.

The means test is structured to ensure that a rent supplement recipient is always better off if they take up work. It is necessary to take changes in family income supplement into account to achieve this outcome.

Means tests are there to ensure that maximum support is targeted at those most in need of the support of the particular secondary benefit. The operation of means tests across all social welfare schemes is constantly under review. Any changes to the way means tests operate would have significant cost implication and would have to be considered in a budgetary context and in the light of resources available to me for improvements in social welfare generally.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his proposals to reform the family income supplement to include the reduction of the minimum hours for qualification to 17.5 hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32267/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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My department administers a number of schemes designed to help working families on low incomes.

Family income supplement is the principal in-work income support for people in low-income employment with children. It is designed to provide the incentive to remain in, or take up, employment rather than be fully welfare dependent. To qualify for payment, a person must be engaged in insurable employment for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight. However, a couple may combine their hours of employment to meet this criterion.

Improvements to FIS include the change of assessment from a gross income basis to net income, the increase to €20 per week in the minimum payment and, in recent years, the re-focusing of income thresholds to include additional gains for larger families.

If a low income worker is not employed at a level appropriate to claim FIS, there are a range of other payments which may be more appropriate. For instance, people working up to three days per week may instead apply for a jobseeker's payment, provided they are unemployed for the remainder of the week and continue to seek full-time work. Entitlement can be either insurance based (jobseeker's benefit) or means-based (jobseeker's allowance).

The part-time job incentive scheme is available to those who were previously on a jobseeker's payment for 15 months or more and are now working under 24 hours per week while seeking full-time employment. This payment is not means-tested.

Farm assist is a weekly means-tested payment for low income farmers, including those who may have off-farm employment or self-employment.

In addition, many social welfare payments, including one parent family payment and disability allowance provide for earnings disregards and tapered withdrawal of payments as earnings increase. Information on all my department's schemes is available from any social welfare local office or the department's website, www.welfare.ie.

As any relaxation of FIS qualification criteria on the lines suggested would not be consistent with the objectives of the scheme, I have no plans to proceed in this way.