Written answers

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Social Welfare Eligibility

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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470. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person (details supplied) is eligible for the supplementary welfare allowance or another welfare payment; and the basis for a previous refusal of an application for same. [6601/22]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Social Welfare legislation provides that subject to certain disregards, all income and property belonging to an applicant (and his or her spouse/partner, where applicable) is assessable for means testing purposes for social assistance schemes such as Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) and Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA).

The person concerned has made several applications for JA; the most recent was made in July 2021. The person concerned was assessed with weekly means of €430 derived from the capital value of a property she declared she owns and where she does not normally reside. The property is valued at €140,000. Property which is not personally used by a claimant is assessed on the capital value of the property. As the person concerned does not reside in the property, it cannot be considered as property personally used by her and therefore has to be considered in assessing her means.

Means on the property’s capital value of €140,000 were calculated as follows:

Disregard the first €20k – Nil = Nil

€20k to €30k - €1 per €1,000 = €10 weekly means

€30k to €40k - €2 per €1,000 = €20 weekly means

€40k to €140k - €4 per €1,000 = €400 weekly means

As the weekly means calculated are greater than the rate of JA payable for a person of her circumstances, the JA claim for the person concerned was disallowed.

The person concerned applied for SWA on 14/12/2020 and as this is also a means-tested payment her claim was disallowed.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance 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. There is no automatic entitlement to these payments which are payable at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme, considering the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case. The person concerned made several applications for ENPs in 2021 and was awarded 3 ENPs for a total of €800. She also made a ENP application on 05/01/2022 and received a payment of €300 on 07/01/2022.

I trust this clarifies the matter.

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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471. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a decision has been made on an application for disability allowance by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6607/22]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that my Department received an application for Disability Allowance (DA) from this person on 18 January 2022.

On 24 January 2022 the person concerned was requested to supply supporting documentation required by the deciding officer in order to make a decision on their eligibility. On receipt of this information a decision will be made on their DA application and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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