James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 458: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when social welfare assistance will be awarded in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Longford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3632/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned applied for a jobseeker's allowance on 16 November 2009. One of the conditions for receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance is that the person must satisfy a means test. In this regard her application was referred to the local Social Welfare Investigator and their investigation has been completed. A decision on her claim will issue to her shortly. A person may apply for Supplementary Welfare Allowance from their local Community Welfare Officer while an application for Jobseeker's Allowance is being processed.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 459: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the position regarding an application for jobseeker's allowance of a person (details supplied)in County Cavan; if she will expedite the case. [3634/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department has no record of an existing claim for Jobseeker's Allowance or any other Social Welfare payment from the person concerned. If he wishes to submit an application he should contact his local Social Welfare Office.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 460: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) in County Longford has been disallowed a contributory pension, having been notified of entitlement to same on 24 October 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3638/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Spouses who are actively engaged in a commercial partnership, including the operation of a farm, as opposed to simply being the joint owners of a property, are treated as individual self-employed contributors. In these cases both spouses are liable to pay PRSI (Class S) contributions in a timely manner.

On foot of a Programme for Government commitment an information leaflet, 'Working with your spouse: how it affects your social welfare contributions and entitlements', has been developed between the Department of Social & Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners to set out the social welfare and tax implications of families co-working in a shared business. It was published on the 25th of June, 2008. The leaflet clarifies that spouses who operate in a commercial partnership may be brought into the social insurance system, subject to certain criteria. In this way, both spouses incur a liability to pay self-employed PRSI and build up entitlement towards a contributory state pension and other social welfare benefits. It is open to a person to apply for recognition of a commercial partnership, at any time.

The qualifying conditions for State Pension (Contributory) require the applicant to:

- have entered insurable employment before attaining the age of 56 years

- have at least 260 paid contribution weeks since entry into insurance satisfy the yearly average condition.

In addition, Section 110 (1) of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 provides that a self-employed contributor shall not be regarded as satisfying the qualifying conditions unless:

(a) the person has paid self-employment contributions in respect of at least one

contribution year before attaining pensionable age,

and

(b) all self-employment contributions payable by him or her have been paid.

The person concerned was awarded a State Pension (Contributory) from 24th October 2008. However, according to the records of this Department, the self-employment contributions were all paid by the person concerned after their 66th birthday. The person concerned does not therefore satisfy the condition at (a) above and has no entitlement to a State Pension (Contributory) based on their self-employment contributions and should not have been put into payment on this scheme. The person has been notified of this decision on the 12th January 2010, and has been advised in relation to their right to appeal this decision, or to have it reviewed.

Section 110 (1)(a) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005, has been on the statute books for over fifteen years and there has not been a change in policy in relation to the requirement to have paid at least one year's self employment contributions prior to reaching age 66, in order to qualify for a State Pension (Contributory).

An overpayment will be determined in the above case and the person concerned will be notified and requested to repay the amount involved. However a Recovery Officer may reduce or cancel an overpayment based on the circumstances of an individual case, in line with governing legislation.

It should be noted that while the publication of the leaflet 'Working with your spouse: how it affects your social welfare contributions and entitlements' clarified existing procedures in relation to the recognition of commercial partnerships between husbands and wives for social insurance purposes, including retrospective payment of social insurance, it did not involve a change in existing policy or administration. In particular, the clarification of the position did not alter people's potential entitlements and all applicants for the state pension (contributory) must continue to satisfy the eligibility conditions as contained in legislation, and outlined above.

The Department understands and apologises for the upset and distress caused to this person and regrets the administrative error involved.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 461: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the position regarding an entitlement to sick benefit in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Longford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3641/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Disability Allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged over 16 and under 66. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a habitual residence test.

The person concerned applied for Disability Allowance on 16 October 2009. His claim was assessed by a Medical Assessor who requested that the person be asked to furnish a medical report from the specialist he is attending. A letter issued to the person concerned on 14 January 2010 requesting this report. To date the report has not been received.

The person's file was forwarded to a Social Welfare Inspector in order to determine his means. The Inspector called to his address on 19 January 2010 but the person concerned was not at home. The Social Welfare Inspector will be in contact with the person to schedule another appointment. A decision on his Disability Allowance claim will be given when the medical report and the Social Welfare Inspector's report are received and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 462: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason persons on reduced rate social assistance payments have received a full decrease in their payment for 2010 and not a decrease proportionate to their reduced rate payment. [3644/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The various social assistance schemes operated by my Department are means tested and include schemes such as jobseeker's allowance and one-parent family payment. For means test purposes, account is taken of the value of any capital or property owned by the person in addition to any cash income the person might have including, inter alia, earnings from employment, income from self-employment, foreign social security pensions and occupational pensions. If a person has a spouse or a partner, the means of that person is also taken into account.

As provided for in social welfare legislation, where a person has means the weekly value of those means is deducted from the maximum weekly rate of payment and a reduced rate is payable. Where a person has weekly means in excess of the maximum personal rate of the relevant social assistance payment, no payment is made.

The purpose of the means test is to reflect that fact that the person has other income or assets available to support him or her. Accordingly, the total weekly income available to that person or couple comprises both the value of the means of the person in addition to any social assistance payment they may be entitled to.

In addition, where a person has income from certain sources, some of that income is disregarded. In the case of jobseeker's allowance, for example, the first €20 per day is disregarded, subject to a maximum of €60 per week and 60% of the balance is assessed where a claimant or a spouse/partner has income from employment,

Where a person has no means, jobseeker's allowance is payable at the maximum rate of payment. In the case of a single person, the maximum weekly rate was €204.30 in 2009 and is €196 in 2010, a reduction of €8.30 per week or 4.1%. In the case of a couple with no means, the reduction is €13.80 per week, also 4.1%, from €339.80 to €326 .10 (including the qualified adult allowance).

The effect of the Budget changes in rates of payment where a person has means can be illustrated by way of the following example. In the case of a couple where the claimant is unemployed and the spouse or partner is working three days per week with net earnings of €460 per week, jobseeker's allowance of €99.90 per week would have been payable in 2009. This reduced rate is equivalent to the combined maximum weekly personal and qualified adult rates of €339.90 less weekly means of €240. Accordingly, the total income of the couple in this example would have been €559.90 per week in 2009 comprising net earnings of €460 and jobseeker's allowance of €99.90.

Consequent on the reduction in the maximum weekly personal and qualified adult rates of jobseeker's allowance announced in Budget 2010, the total weekly income of the couple will reduce to €546.10 per week in 2010, an overall reduction of €13.80 per week or 2.5%.

As the example shows, the overall reduction in percentage terms in total family income for persons on reduced rates of jobseeker's allowance is somewhat less than applies in the case of a person with no means who receives the maximum rate of payment. This arises because the element of their total income which is represented by their means is not affected by the recent Budget. The introduction of pro-rata reductions for recipients of reduced rate jobseeker's allowance payments would further reduce the overall percentage loss in total family income when compared with that experienced by persons who had no means and are, accordingly, totally dependent on the social welfare payment.

Similar effects will occur in relation to other social assistance payments. The precise level of reduction in overall family income will vary as the income disregards and assessment rates vary from scheme to scheme. No change was made in Budget 2010 in relation to the means testing arrangements where a claimant or a spouse/partner is engaged in employment in order to maintain incentives to take up, or remain in, employment.

Where a claimant, or his or her spouse, is in employment and net earnings from that employment reduce for one reason or another, the claimant should request his or her Social Welfare Local Office, or the relevant Department Headquarters Office dealing with the claim, to review their means. In the event of a reduction in means, the level of entitlement will increase.

George Lee (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 463: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties caused to persons by the Department's refusal to inform them of their old age pension entitlements should they continue working to the age of 65 years; if her further attention has been drawn to the fact that this is preventing persons from being able to plan for their retirement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3651/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department continues to provide customers, on request, with a copy of their full social insurance contribution history, together with the booklet "Working it Out", to assist them in assessing their possible pension entitlement. This enables a customer to review their contribution history. Should they identify any "gaps" in their record, they can have these investigated and rectified in advance of pension application stage.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 464: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) is not entitled to any income support or secondary benefits. [3652/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned made a claim for Jobseeker's Allowance on 6 January 2009, at Finglas Social Welfare Local Office. He was assessed with means which were in excess of his entitlement. His means were derived from self–employment, spouse's insurable employment and capital/property. Accordingly, he was not entitled to Jobseeker's Allowance.

He was informed of this decision on 27 February 2009. He was also informed that he had a right to appeal this decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office within 21 days of receiving the letter. There is no record of any appeal made by the person.

If the person feels that he may be entitled to Jobseeker's Allowance at this time, he should call into his Local Office where the staff would be happy to assist him.