Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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135. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will restore the fuel allowance to cover 32 weeks of the year and widen eligibility for the payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18541/22]

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, which is supporting up to an estimated 400,000 households in 2022, 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 Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of supports, energy efficiency awareness initiatives and investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock.

As part of Budget 2022, a number of expansions to the eligibility criteria for the Fuel Allowance payment were announced at that time. The weekly means threshold for the Fuel Allowance scheme was increased by €20 to €120 above the appropriate rate of Contributory State Pension, representing a 20% increase in the threshold, which enables more people to qualify for this support. With effect from the start of the next fuel season, the qualifying period for Jobseeker’s and Supplementary Welfare Allowance recipients to access the Fuel Allowance payment will be reduced from 15 to 12 months.

The Government has, therefore, implemented significant expansions in relation to Fuel Allowance through Budget 2022.

Further Government measures were only recently announced to help mitigate the effects of rising energy costs. As part of this package of measures totalling over half a billion euro, an additional lump sum payment of €125 was paid to all households in receipt of the Fuel Allowance payment. It is expected that this additional lump sum will cost an estimated €49 million in 2022.

This means that low-income households will see an increase of 41% in Fuel Allowance support provided during this Fuel Allowance season compared to last season. A recipient household which would have received €735 in Fuel Season 2020/2021 would see an increase of €304 to €1,039 in Fuel Allowance payments in Fuel Season 2021/2022. When taken in conjunction with the electricity costs emergency benefit payment, due to be paid in April, this household would have received over €500 in additional targeted Government supports over the course of this fuel season.

My Department also provides discretionary exceptional needs payments, where appropriate, to people who face difficulties in meeting fuel bills. These payments are not ring-fenced or budget limited as they would be if they were drawn from an earmarked fund, but rather are demand led.

The provision of any additional supports such as extending the Fuel Allowance season or further expanding the qualifying criteria would have cost implications and could only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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136. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of restoring the bereavement grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18542/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The number of bereavement grant claims in 2013 was 23,716 at a cost of €20.29 Million. This represented an increase of approximately 4% on 2012. Based on a similar yearly increase each year since 2013, it is estimated that the number of bereavement grant claims that might arise in 2023, were the scheme to be reintroduced, would be in the region of 35,200, and the number would be expected to increase in future years. Accordingly, if there were 35,200 such grants made in 2023, at a rate of €850 each, the cost would be approx. €29.92 million. Any decision to reinstate it would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

It is worth noting that there are a range of supports available for people following bereavement which provide more significant support than the former grant. These include weekly-paid widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner’s (contributory and non-contributory) pensions, which are based on contributions or a means test, and a once-off widowed or surviving civil partner grant of €8,000 where there is a dependent child. A number of social welfare payments, including State pension, continue in payment for six weeks following a death. In Budget 2016, the Government increased the payment after death period to 12 weeks for carer’s allowance. Guardian payments are available where someone cares for an orphaned child. A special funeral grant of €850 is paid where a person dies because of an accident at work or occupational disease.

Under the Supplementary Allowance scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet from their weekly income, which may include help with funeral and burial expenses. This is a more targeted and efficient manner of assisting people with bereavement expenses.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.