Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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291. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of including carer's allowance as a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance. [25467/22]

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.

Taking account of the fact that the fuel allowance is a household based payment and that qualification is not just based on receipt of a qualifying payment but on a number of other complex qualifying criteria such as household composition, it is not possible for my Department to provide an accurate projection of the cost of the measure suggested by the Deputy.

The Government values the role of carers very much and it is for this reason that they receive significant income supports from the Department. In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers receive additional support in the form of free travel and household benefits (for those who live with the person for whom they care) and the annual Carer's Support Grant (€1,850) in respect of each person for whom they care.

While Carer's Allowance is not a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance, a person in receipt of Carer's Allowance may avail of the Fuel Allowance payment in certain circumstances. Fuel Allowance is a household-based payment, and a carer will very often live with and care for a person in receipt of a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance. Income from full rate Carer's Allowance is disregarded from the fuel means test, if the carer is providing full time care and attention to the Fuel Allowance applicant, his/her qualified spouse/civil partner or cohabitant or qualified child(ren).

If a person is getting certain qualifying social welfare payments and also providing full time care and attention to another person, s/he can keep his/her main social protection payment in addition to receiving the half-rate Carer's Allowance. S/he can also receive an extra half-rate Carer’s Allowance if s/he cares for more than one person. The payment of half-rate Carer’s Allowance does not preclude a person from qualifying for Fuel Allowance. If a person is in receipt of a non-contributory social welfare payment and a half-rate Carer’s Allowance, then s/he is deemed to have satisfied the means test and Fuel Allowance is payable, subject to all remaining criteria being satisfied. If a person is in receipt of a contributory social welfare payment and a half-rate Carer’s Allowance then s/he will have to satisfy a means test in order to qualify for Fuel Allowance.

Any decision to adjust the rules of Fuel Allowance to make Carer's Allowance a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance would have budgetary consequences and would have to be considered in the context of overall budget negotiations.

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.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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292. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of extending the current rate of the fuel allowance by €1 per week. [25468/22]

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.

It is estimated then the additional cost of increasing the Fuel Allowance rate by €1 per week would be in the region of €11.2 million over a standard 28-week Fuel Allowance season.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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293. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of extending the fuel allowance for one additional week. [25469/22]

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 cost of extending the fuel allowance season for one additional week is estimated to be in the region of €12.25 million, based on current recipient household numbers and payment rates.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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294. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of including the working family payment as a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance. [25470/22]

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.

Fuel Allowance is a household payment and the circumstances and income of any other member of the household will be taken into account when deciding a Fuel Allowance application. Accordingly, it is very difficult to provide an accurate estimate for the proposed measure. However, it would be expected that it would cost in the region of an estimated €22.4 million in a full year.

The Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly, tax-free payment available to employees with children. It gives extra financial support to families with children with rates depending on their incomes and family size. It is not considered a long-term Social Protection payment and recipients are in full time employment and are more likely to have additional resources. A person in receipt of the WFP can continue to receive the payment for 52 weeks even if their income increases.