Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1032. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that partners of those on the disability payment are discouraged from working more hours for fear of losing access to the disability payment or access to the medicines their partner needs. [20158/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Social welfare legislation provides that, for social assistance schemes such as Disability Allowance, all income and capital (such as savings, investments and property other than the family home) belonging to the claimant and his or her spouse/partner, where applicable, are assessable for means assessment purposes.

If a claimant is married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting, the means of the couple will be assessed. This is the case even if only one of the couple is actually claiming a payment.

The rate payable (if any) is determined by calculating the full rate to which the couple would be entitled (i.e. the personal rate, increase for a qualified adult, and increase for a qualified child if applicable), and then deducting the means which are assessed in the means test.

The current maximum rates of payment for Disability Allowance are as follows:

An earnings disregard of €20 per day also applies for a maximum of 3 days a week, while 60% of earnings above this threshold are taken into account when assessing means.

It is the nature of means-tested schemes that, above a certain level of means, a person is not entitled to any payment, as their means are deemed to be sufficient to provide for their needs.

This approach reflects the policy of ensuring that those with the least amount of income or capital receive the maximum available support from the State, while those with larger amounts of income, savings or property contribute, partially or fully, towards meeting their needs.

Any proposals to change the means assessment for Disability Allowance would have to be considered in the overall budgetary and policy context.