John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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307. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the cost of restoring the supplementary welfare allowance scheme for persons under 26 years of age in 2017 in tabular form. [11516/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants and who do not qualify for payment under other State schemes. The Government has provided €79.7 million for basic SWA payments in 2016.

In cases where age related rates apply, the maximum payment for a person aged 18-24 years of age is €100 per week, while for a person aged 25 years of age, the maximum weekly payment is €144.

There are currently some 2,640 persons under 26 who have been awarded a basic SWA payment. Of these claims, some 1,700 persons are being paid at the appropriate age related rate. Using the current claimant numbers as a basis, the additional full year cost for my Department of providing a weekly rate of €186 for all basic SWA recipients aged 25 and under is some €7.36 million.

Any change to provision in this area would be a matter for Government to consider in a budgetary context. Details of the number of SWA recipients under 26 years of age at the end of April 2016 and the calculation of the annualised additional cost are provided in the following table.

Tabular Statement

Cost to restore SWA age related payments to full rate based on current recipient numbers