James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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265. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to simplify the farm assist scheme and in particular to remove the requirement for audited accounts; his further plans to restore income and child disregards to the farm assist scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18123/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2016 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of €85 million on the farm assist scheme.

Changes introduced in Budgets 2012 and 2013 brought farm assist into closer alignment with the jobseeker’s allowance scheme’s treatment of self-employed people. Farm families with the lowest income were least impacted by these changes as the headline rates of farm assist were maintained.

To qualify for payment under the farm assist scheme, a person must satisfy a means test. Where necessary and possible, details of receipts and expenditure will be verified by a Social Welfare Inspector. In these circumstances, the onus is on the applicant to provide the required documentation

It is important to emphasise that while details of income and expenditure from the previous year are basic to the assessment, the assessment itself is not a book-keeping exercise based on one particular year. Financial information such as the most recently available accounts of the farm are, of course, relevant to an assessment of means. However, while such accounts may be informative they are not an absolute requirement. As such the farm assist means test is designed to be flexible so as to allow for significant income fluctuations from one year to the next.

The Programme for Government contains the commitment to undertake a "Review of the Farm Assist Scheme, recognising the challenges facing farmers on low incomes". I have asked my officials to review the farm assist scheme from a policy and an administrative point of view.

Any changes to the scheme will have to be considered in a budgetary context.