Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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Question 145: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm the highest amount of social welfare paid out to a person here; the number and name of the various schemes under which they are entitled to payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27909/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department operates a wide range of schemes under which a person may be entitled to receive a payment if they satisfy all of the various conditions for receipt of that payment. The conditions for receipt of a primary weekly payment, such as Disability Allowance or State Pension, typically include experiencing a prescribed contingency, such as unemployment, disability or old age, and satisfying either a means test or social insurance contribution test.

In cases where a person satisfies the general conditions for more than one type of primary weekly payment in general they will be entitled to receive only one primary weekly payment. For example if a person has a disability and is aged 66 years or more, they will not receive both a disability and an old-age payment. Increases in primary weekly payments may be paid in respect of a qualified adult dependant and any qualified child dependants.

However, there are some exceptions to this, including the following examples: · A person who has a Widow's Pension or One-Parent Family Payment and who becomes ill may be entitled to receive a reduced rate of Illness Benefit in addition to her Widow's Pension, if she or he also satisfies the conditions for receipt of Illness Benefit. · A person who is entitled to a State Pension Contributory may also be entitled to receive a half-rate payment of Carer's Allowance if they are caring for another person on a full time basis.

In addition to primary weekly payments, a person may be entitled to a monthly child benefit payment, monthly domiciliary care allowance, an annual respite care grant and/or a weekly guardian's payment. It should be noted that entitlement to these payments is not dependent on being in receipt of a primary weekly rate of payment and that these payments are also equally available to persons who are not dependent on welfare, provided the relevant conditions for receipt of these schemes is satisfied. In the case of some couples, all payments may be made to one member of the couple while, in the case of others, each member may be personally in receipt some payments but not all. Child benefit is normally paid to a mother.

The average payment varies across the various schemes operated by the Department. Details are set out in the tabular statement. The most typical rate paid to people of working age is €188 per week, while the most typical rate paid to people aged 66 years or more is €230.30 per week. In addition to their primary weekly payment, people may also receive secondary benefits, such as Rent Supplement or Fuel Allowance if they also satisfy the conditions for receipt of those payments. For example, 12% of people on the Live Register also receive Rent Supplement and 16% receive Fuel Allowance. The most typical rate of Rent Supplement is €100 per week, while Fuel Allowance is €20 per week from October to April.

The majority of people receive a payment for themselves alone. For example, 70% of people who receive Jobseeker's Allowance or Jobseeker's Benefit receive a personal rate only, the maximum rate of which is €188 per week, and 54% of these receive less than €188 per week. In general, the highest aggregate payments arise in cases where there is a large number of children and rent or mortgage interest supplement is in payment or where multiple disability and care payments are made. These are relatively few in number. For example, there are currently 853 people in receipt of increases in their Jobseeker's Allowance or Jobseeker's Benefit in respect of 6 or more children. These represent less than one fifth of 1% of the Live Register. The maximum amount of Jobseeker's Allowance or Jobseeker's Benefit payable to a person with six children is less than €512 per week, while the maximum amount of Rent Supplement that could be in payment is an additional €230 per week.

In the light of the facts set out above and the fact that individual payments are delivered across a range of computer systems, it is not possible to extract the specific data requested in respect of total social welfare payments issued to individuals in the State.

Table: Average values for weekly social welfare payments, September 2011

Note: The data presented above is scheme specific and does not take into account the fact that some individual recipients may be in receipt of more than one personal rate of a primary payment e.g. State Pension Contributory and a Half-Rate Carer's Allowance (over 40% of all Carer's Allowance recipients receive more than one primary personal payment per week). The weekly averages include arrears and increases/allowances (except fuel).