Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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279. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of recipients of invalidity pension; the extent to which the number has fluctuated over the past two years or is likely to so do in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48992/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The table below shows the number of invalidity pension recipients at the end of each month over the past two years, from August 2019 to August 2021.During this period the number of recipients has fluctuated from a low of 57,997 in August 2019 to a high of 59,340 in January 2021. The most recently available number of recipients (Aug 2021) is 58,369.

As Invalidity Pension is a demand-led scheme it is not possible to definitively determine future recipient numbers.

Invalidity Pension

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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280. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of recipients of child benefit payments; the extent to which this has fluctuated over the past two years and is likely to so do in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48993/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Child benefit is the principal way the State assists families with the costs of raising children. It is paid in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years, or to the age of 18 in respect of children who are in full-time education or who have a disability.

The total number of child benefit recipients for September 2021 was 633,270 in respect of 1.2 million children.

The number of recipients has consistently remained at between 630,000 and 640,000 over the last two years with only minor fluctuations each month. The Department does not expect to see any significant increases or decreases in the number of recipients in the coming years.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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281. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of recipients of State pension (non-contributory) over the past two years; the extent to which this number has fluctuated or is likely to so do; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48994/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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At the end of September 2021, there were 95,290 state pension non-contributory (personal rate) recipients.

The numbers of recipients over the past 2 years are provided in the table below. This has remained relatively consistent over the past number of years at around 95,000.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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282. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of prisoners wives’ allowances granted over the past two years to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48995/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Prisoner's Wife's Allowance was a means tested payment made to women under 66 years of age whose husband was in prison and who have no dependent children. The scheme was closed to new applicants with effect from 2 January 1997 when One Parent Family Payment was introduced.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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283. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of exceptional needs payments made in each of the past two years to date; the most common reasons for which the payment was sought; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48996/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department can make a single Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. An urgent needs payment (UNP) may be made to persons who may not normally qualify for supplementary welfare allowance but who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources or where an alternative is not available at that time. Government has provided €46.02 million for the exceptional and urgent needs schemes in 2021.

Approximately 92,200 payments were made in 2019, and 67,600 payments in 2020. To date in 2021, over 41,800 payments have been made. The categories with the largest number of payments within the ENP scheme are the clothing category; the housing category, which includes payments for necessary items including bedding, flooring, furniture, household appliances and rent deposits; and the general category which includes support for travel costs, heating costs and insufficient means.

I would encourage any person who considers they may have an entitlement to an exceptional or urgent needs payment to contact their local Intreo Centre. There is a national Income Support Helpline in place - 0818-800024 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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284. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of rent support payments in lieu of rehousing made by her Department in each of the past six years to date; if a particular trend in terms of reliance on the payment has been identified; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48997/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Rent supplement continues to play a key role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme currently supporting 15,939 active recipients at the end of August 2021.

The strategic goal of returning rent supplement to its original purpose - that of a short-term income support - has been primarily facilitated by the introduction of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). HAP has been successfully rolled out nationally, available in all local authorities, since March 2017. Since HAP's introduction, initially on a pilot basis in 2014, rent supplement recipient numbers have been declining as long-term rent supplement cases have migrated to local authority control primarily via HAP.

As part of the Government’s response to the pandemic, in March 2020, the conditions for receipt of rent supplement were relaxed and flexibilities introduced to enable those in the private rented sector who suffered a loss of employment or income due to the pandemic to access rent supplement. For 2020, the increase in rent supplement recipients for this year reflect these changes alongside the increased demand due to the Covid emergency.

The central tenet behind the Housing Assistance Payment was to identify and transfer those with long term reliance on rent supplement for their housing needs to a local authority sponsored solution whilst allowing rent supplement to revert to its originally intended role of providing short term income support to those temporarily unemployed.

The attached tabular statement shows the year on year reduction, from 2017 to 2019, the increase in 2020, and the reduction of recipient numbers in 2021 as HAP transfers continue and as Covid rent supplement recipients return to work.

Tabular Statement:

Rent Supplement: Recipient Numbers & Expenditure 2016 - 2021

* Recipient numbers as at end August 2021

**Estimated Outturn to end August 2021

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.