Written answers

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Department of Social Protection

Social Welfare Code

10:00 pm

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 215: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she would provide details of the changes that will affect a person (details supplied) in County Kerry as a result of the budget. [39541/11]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) is made up of a personal rate for the parent and of extra amounts for dependent children. The current payment rate is €188.00 per week – with a further €29.80 payable for each additional qualified child. The amount of the payment depends on the weekly means of the parent. Currently, earnings of less than €146.50 per week are excluded from the assessment of means – with claimants entitled to the full rate of payment. Earnings above this limit are assessed at 50% up to a maximum of €425.00 per week – with a reduced rate of OFP payable.

The reform of the OFP payment commenced when legislative changes were introduced to the scheme in the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2010. These changes, which came into effect on 27 April, 2011, lowered the age limit of the youngest child for receipt of the payment from 18 (or 22 if in full-time education) to 14 for new recipients and introduced a six-year phase-out of the payment for existing recipients, with entitlement to the OFP being maintained at the age of 18 for 2011 and 2012, and then being reduced on a yearly basis from the age of 17 in 2013 to 16 in 2014, to 15 in 2015 and to 14 in 2016.

The provisions contained in Budget 2012 will continue this reform – with the age limit of the youngest child being further reduced to 12 in 2012, to 10 in 2013 and to 7 in 2014. The earnings disregard on the OFP payment will also be reduced on a phased basis, moving from €146.50 per week to €130 per week in January 2012, for new and existing claimants. Both the weekly personal rate for the parent and the qualified child rate will not change.

As an existing OFP customer, the recipient referred to will continue to receive their payment in April 2012. Phasing arrangements after this point, for such customers are currently being considered. This client's weekly earnings, which total €60.55 from 7 hours of employment (based on earnings at the national minimum wage rate of €8.65 per hour), will not affect her entitlement as they fall under the earnings disregard of €146.50 for 2011 and of €130.00 for 2012. She would currently be receiving a payment of €188 per week for herself and €29.80 per week for each of her three children under 18 years. This assumes that she was an OFP recipient prior to April 2011 and that the older two children over 18 years are not in full-time education. This gives her a total social welfare payment of €277.40 per week. If she became an OFP recipient after April 2011, when the age 14 limit was introduced, she would be receiving payment of €29.80 for one child, giving her a total payment of €217.80 per week. In both instances her payment would remain unchanged in April 2012.

Photo of Séamus HealySéamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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Question 216: To ask the Minister for Social Protection in view of the findings of research on fuel poverty and older people by the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Institute of Public Health, if she will accede to the petition sponsored by an organisation (details supplied) which states that hundreds of older people die each winter in Ireland because they cannot afford to keep themselves warm and lives could be saved if the Government reversed its decision to cut their electricity and gas units; if she will reverse the cuts to the free gas and electricity units available under the household benefits package, in view of the increased hardship it will cause for older persons on low incomes. [39558/11]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The research referred to has not been published to date. However, my Department will spend over €530 million in 2011 on the fuel scheme and the telephone, gas and electricity elements of the household benefits package which will benefit some 390,000 people on household benefits and 375,000 on the fuel allowance. In 2005 there were 325,000 people on household benefits and 265,000 on the fuel allowance at a cost of €280 million. The costs have almost doubled in six years while the number of customers has risen by more than 20%. My Department is covering the cost of the price increases in electricity which came into effect from 1st October. The electricity allowance, which was €35.80 per month, has increased to €39.40. The price increases will cost the Department over €4 million in 2011 and €17.3 million in a full year.

Difficult decisions had to be made in light of the existing economic situation and commitments made by the previous government. A number of measures for savings in 2011 and future years were specified as part of Budget 2011 but were not announced by the Government at the time. These included a saving of €30 million in the energy and telephone elements of the household benefits package in 2011 and subsequent years. They also included the abolition of the smokeless fuel allowance with a saving of €7.7 million in 2011 and €17.5 million in subsequent years. The number of free units provided under the electricity and gas allowance were reduced from 2,400 to 1,800 with a view to generating savings of €17 million in 2011 and €65 million annually.

Excess winter deaths are generally defined as the difference between the number of deaths during the four winter months (December to March) and the average number of deaths during the preceding autumn (August to November) and the following summer (April to July).

Ireland, in common with other European countries, experiences higher levels of mortality in the winter than in the summer. Studies have found that mortality increases as mean daily temperatures fall (below 18 degrees). However, it is the countries with (relatively) the mildest winters in Europe which report the greatest excess deaths. This has been termed the, 'paradox of excess winter mortality'. There is no simple clear cut explanation for excess winter mortality.

The factors include

· the increased prevalence of influenza and cold viruses during the winter months;

· older age – especially for people aged 75 years and over or those who are frail;

· poverty/fuel poverty;

· poor housing stock;

· living alone.

The most cost-effective means of protecting households from energy poverty is to reduce consumption of energy through improving the home's thermal efficiency. Sustainable Energy Ireland has administered the Warmer Homes programme for privately owned low-income households since 2001, benefitting 65,000 households, with a further 15,000 to receive upgrades this year. A similar programme is in place for local authority houses.

We should also bear in mind that data show that households comprising predominantly older people have lower consistent poverty rates than other age categories. In 2009 single adults aged over 65 with no children had a consistent poverty rate of 0.6% while people in households with 2 adults at least one of whom was aged 65 or over with no children had a consistent poverty rate of 1.0%. In the general population, 5.5% of people were in consistent poverty. The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (2009) also showed that the elderly were less likely than other groups to have gone without heating in the previous year.

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