Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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159. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there are plans to review the situation in which a person living alone who is in receipt of the old age pension and a payment under the disablement pension of not more than €120.00 per week and who has been refused the fuel allowance payment. [10226/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, to 371,000 low-income households, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. 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.

The criteria for fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to the Department in as targeted a manner as possible. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.

Disablement Benefit is a benefit under the Occupational Injuries Scheme. It can be paid to a recipient who suffers a loss of physical or mental faculty because of an accident at work, an accident travelling directly to or from work, or a prescribed disease contracted at work. The contribution requirements for the scheme are minimal when compared to other Departmental benefit schemes.

People in receipt of Disablement Benefit (without another payment) can work full or part time and continue to receive the Benefit Payment – in other words they are not prevented from generating additional income.

In the alternative, it can be and is paid at the same time as most social welfare payments including Jobseeker’s Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, State Pension and One-Parent Family Payment. It is not considered as means for most social welfare means-assessed schemes except for Fuel Allowance, Supplementary Welfare Allowance or Working Family Payment.

Incapacity Supplement is an increase payable in addition to Disablement Benefit where a person is considered to be permanently incapable of work as a result of an occupational accident or disease and does not qualify for another Social Welfare benefit such as Illness Benefit. This Incapacity Supplement is a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance.

Therefore, while Disablement Benefit on its own is a disqualifying payment for Fuel Allowance because a person may continue to or take up work, or may receive another social welfare payment in parallel, qualification for Incapacity Supplement in addition to Disablement Benefit qualifies that recipient for Fuel Allowance (subject to satisfying all other qualifying criteria).

I have asked officials in my Department to review the treatment of disablement benefit under the fuel allowance scheme and this review is currently ongoing.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my Department also provides Exceptional Needs Payments which may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources, and this may include exceptional heating costs. Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.