Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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1077. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the methods that are at the disposal of applicants for the fuel allowance who are deemed to be fractionally over the income threshold; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20801/22]

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, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022.  The purpose of this payment is to assist qualifying 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 my Department in as targeted a manner as possible.  To qualify for the fuel allowance payment a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria including the means test. 

Fuel allowance is not payable if an applicant does not satisfy all relevant qualifying criteria.  Fuel allowance cannot be awarded on a discretionary basis.

In Budget 2022 and with immediate effect the Government increased the weekly means threshold for the fuel allowance scheme by €20 to €120 above the appropriate rate of contributory State pension representing a 20% increase and enabling more people to qualify for this support.  The €120 allowable means limit is significantly more than the €33 weekly rate of Fuel Allowance.

Any proposal to further increase the allowable means for Fuel Allowance purposes or any further changes to the eligibility criteria would have to be considered in this context and in the context of the overall policy and budgetary situation.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, Exceptional Needs payments 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.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The person concerned is currently in receipt of the Widower(er)'s & Surviving Civil Partner's Contributory Pension at the maximum rate for those aged under 66 years.  This pension will remain payable while the person remains widowed and is payable regardless of other income. 

The social welfare system is primarily a contingency-based system, with entitlement based on a number of defined contingencies such as sickness, unemployment, old age or widowhood.  

There is a general principle of one person, one 'core' payment, which applies across the whole of the social welfare system.  Given the contingency-based nature of this system, it can happen that a person may experience more than one contingency at the same time.  For example, a person may be in receipt of a Widower(er)'s & Surviving Civil Partner's Contributory Pension and become unemployed.  As a consequence, if a person experiences more than one of these contingencies at the same time, he or she can receive only one payment.  This principle is common to social security systems across the world. 

To change the underlying principle of entitlement and allow people claim multiple payments would involve significant additional expenditure which could prove unsustainable in the long-term, and would have to be considered in the overall policy and budgetary contexts. 

I hope this clarifies the position.