Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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220. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of removing the means-test for maintenance payments, particularly for rent allowance payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39286/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 27,400 recipients for which the Government has provided €180 million for in 2018.

Rent supplement is a statutory means tested scheme, payable at differentiated rates of payment according to the applicant’s means and accommodation requirements, and is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) appropriate to their family circumstances, less a weekly minimum contribution which recipients are required to pay from their own resources.

For rent supplement, maintenance payments of up to €95.23 per week are fully assessable on the basis that vouched accommodation costs of up to this amount are disregarded in the assessment of weekly social assistance payments such as jobseeker’s allowance and one-parent family payment. Where a person has weekly maintenance payments of more than €95.23, the next €75 is disregarded in full with 25% of any additional maintenance above €170.23 also disregarded. The contribution towards a customer’s rent is the aggregate amount of: €95.23 primary payment disregard plus 75% of any maintenance payments in excess of €170.23 plus the customer’s €30 minimum contribution. The interaction between rent supplement, the primary scheme and maintenance ensures that recipient retains their full primary payment entitlement whilst making a reasonable contribution towards their accommodation costs.

Any alteration in the amount of maintenance payment being disregarded for rent supplement would have to consider reciprocal alterations in the disregards of the respective primary payments. Any unilateral changes to the rent supplement scheme, i.e., not altering primary payment schemes’ disregards, could only be considered in a budgetary context and within the scope of the overall resources available.

The cost impact of this exercise, of a unilateral removal of the €95.23 rent supplement provision, is not possible to calculate at this time .

The calculation of differential rents for HAP with respect to maintenance payments is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government.