Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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51. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if a person who is in receipt of a jobseeker's allowance and has an adult dependant and a child becomes ineligible for rent supplement if the person transfers from this payment to take up an apprenticeship; the reason for this; and if she will make a statement on the matter [9740/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The rent supplement scheme provides support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are approximately 70,700 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015.

Rent supplement is not generally payable where a person or their spouse/partner is in full time employment i.e. 30 hours or more per week. A person on rent supplement who is deemed by a local authority to be Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) eligible may engage in full-time employment and retain their entitlement subject to the means test. Family income supplement may also be payable for periods of employment.

The Department’s strategic policy direction is to return rent supplement to its original purpose of being a short term income support by transferring responsibility for persons with long term housing needs to the local authorities under the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). One of the key benefits HAP brings is the removal of barriers for people currently in receipt of rent supplement in returning to employment which is consistent with the Governments commitments under the Pathways to Work programme. HAP is currently being administered in seven local authority areas and will be expanded shortly to include additional local authorities.