Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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23. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will change regulations so that the cost of child care is taken into account when calculating the amount of rent allowance payable to an applicant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10472/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There are currently approximately 78,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014.

Rent supplement is calculated to ensure that the person, after payment of rent, has an income equal to the basic supplementary welfare allowance rate, less a specified weekly minimum contribution which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. The weekly minimum contribution is €30 for a single adult household and €40 for coupled households. Many recipients pay more than this amount because recipients are also required, subject to income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) rate towards their accommodation costs.

Child care costs are not disregarded during the means test in determining rent supplement entitlement. However, the childcare allowance paid to participants of certain training courses is not assessable in respect of the means test for rent supplement. I do not intend to revise the existing criteria for rent supplement at this time.

The after-school childcare scheme (ASCC) was introduced in 2013 for which the Department has provided funding of €14 million for 2014. The scheme provides subsidised after-school childcare for certain customers taking up employment or increasing their days of employment.