Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 350: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of claims which have been dealt with by community welfare officers in each area over the past three years; the extra resources made available to the service to cope with the extra demands due to the economic downturn and the delay in processing jobseeker claims; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5881/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) and Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) schemes are administered by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE) on behalf of the Department Social and Family Affairs. The operational arrangements for the processing of applications and the payment to qualifying individuals, is a matter for the respective community welfare division areas. The number of claims processed by the community welfare division over the past three years is shown in the following tabular statement. This information has been produced from the Department's IT system and includes Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) and Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) claims in payment and terminated. It does not include applications for medical cards processed on behalf of the HSE nor does it include any claims where no entitlement was established.

The issue of increased demand on existing resources is a matter for the HSE. The department is committed to working closely with the HSE in ensuring effective delivery of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme and associated income support payments. It is open to the HSE at anytime to approach the department to review its allocation for staff and funding associated with delivery of these services.

However, the question of any increase in expenditure for staffing within the Community Welfare Service above that currently provided would have to be considered in the context of overall Government policy on public service manpower levels.

Extra staff have been assigned to the Department's social welfare local offices and process improvement initiatives are being implemented with a view to reducing processing times for jobseekers claims. These measures should help to relieve some of the pressure on the Community Welfare Service.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 351: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the various wage subsidy schemes in operation by her Department; the basis on which funding will be accessed under these schemes; the number of employees who benefit from each such scheme at present, and for each month in 2007 and 2008; the amount spent on each such scheme in 2007 and 2008 on a total basis, and per employee supported basis; the amount budgeted for same in 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5888/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Social and Family Affairs does not operate a wage subsidy scheme for employers but it provides a range of employment supports available to persons in receipt of welfare payments. These are designed to assist and facilitate people on social welfare payments to return to the active labour force.

The BTWA scheme is designed to assist the long-term unemployed, lone parents, people with disabilities and other social welfare recipients to return to work. There are two strands to the scheme; the back to work enterprise allowance (BTWEA) for the self-employed people and the back to work allowance (BTWA) for employees. Participants who become employees receive a tapered percentage of their social welfare payment over a three year period and self employed people receive it for a four year period. Participants may also retain entitlement to certain other secondary benefits. These allowances provide a monetary incentive for people who are dependant long-term on social welfare payments to make the return to work financially attractive and viable.

To qualify for the back to work allowance an application must be submitted in advance and the person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment for a specific length of time immediately prior to commencing employment.

The qualifying payments and main conditions are as follows:

jobseeker's allowance/benefit for two years and aged over 23 years. Applicants must also establish an entitlement to jobseeker's allowance.

one-parent family payment, disability allowance, blind person's pension, carer's allowance, farm assist, invalidity pension, unemployability supplement, pre-retirement allowance, widows/widowers non contributory pension, deserted wife's benefit/allowance, and prisoners wife's allowance for at least 15 months (12 months if aged 50 or over).

illness benefit for at least 3 years

At the end of December 2008 there were 8,160 approx. recipients of back to work allowance; 4,600 in receipt of the self employed strand and some 3,560 in receipt of the employee strand. The estimated final spend for 2008 is €70.8 million and the budget estimate for 2009 is €80.3 million.

Employers who take on new employees who receive the back to work allowance are eligible for an exemption from the employers' share of the PRSI contribution for a maximum of two years.

The department also operates an in-work payment to low paid workers through the family income supplement (FIS) scheme. The scheme is designed to provide support for people, with families, who are on low earnings. This preserves the incentive for them to remain in employment in circumstances where they might be only marginally better off than if they were claiming other social welfare payments. At the end of December 2008 there were 27,798 people in receipt of FIS. Final expenditure on FIS for 2008 is expected to be €177.34 million based on an average claimload of 22,520. The budget for 2009 is €211.63 million based on an estimated average claimload of 31,000.

One of the qualifying conditions for receipt of FIS is that the customer must be in paid employment of at least 38 hours every fortnight or 19 hours per week. This condition must be satisfied on an ongoing basis. If the customer works less than 38 hours every fortnight, he/she cannot qualify for FIS. Application forms are available on-line at www.welfare.ie or through local Social Welfare Offices or through the Department's local leaflet request line.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment funds and operates a wage subsidy scheme through FÁS. It provides financial incentives to employers, outside the public sector, to employ disabled people who work more than 20 hours per week.