Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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433. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she is considering increasing the threshold of €100 over the equivalent rate of the State pension (contributory) as the upper limit for payment of the fuel allowance in view of the pressure on fuel costs. [47536/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €28.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €784 each year) from October to April, to over 370,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household.

My Department also pays an electricity or gas allowance under the household benefits scheme at an estimated cost of €195 million in 2021.

The criteria for fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. All recipients of non-contributory payments are accepted as satisfying the means-test for fuel. People who are in receipt of a qualifying contributory payment must also satisfy a means test.

The €100 a week means limit is significantly higher that the weekly fuel allowance rate of €28.00 and also the combined weekly total of household benefits and fuel allowance added together (€39.15).

Any extension of the fuel allowance qualifying criteria, such as increasing the allowable means for fuel allowance purposes, can only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme a special heating supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances. Exceptional needs payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which an applicant is unable to meet from his / her own resources.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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434. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the suspension of the waiting time for recruiting a person aged under 30 years of age onto JobsPlus will continue during 2022; and if so, the conditions of eligibility for different options that will apply. [47537/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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JobsPlus is a subsidy paid to employers who recruit long-term unemployed people for new positions in their workplace. Employers can avail of JobsPlus when filling new positions or positions that arise as a consequence of natural turnover and receive a subsidy of €7,500 or €10,000 per employee. The value of the grant is dependent on the age of the new employee and their duration of unemployment, over a two-year period of employment.

Under the Government’s Pathways to Work 2021 – 2025 strategy, my Department is committed to ensuring all services delivered by Intreo Centres nationally have to work not just for jobseekers but also for employers. Recruitment subsidies such as JobsPlus reduce the risk of recruitment for employers as we move through the final phases of the pandemic.

In last year’s July Jobs Stimulus, the capacity of JobsPlus was increased. The qualification criteria for those under 30 years was amended, meaning they can now avail of the support after 4 months, having previously been 12 months. This amendment is a permanent policy change to the scheme and will therefore remain in place during 2022.

Time spent in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment can be counted for the purposes of eligibility for unemployed individuals.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.