Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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390. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person who lives with a sibling can get fuel allowance or if their sibling’s income is taken into account even though they are not a single household; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35500/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, to over 370,000 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 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 household composition criteria.  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.

To satisfy the household composition criteria, an applicant may live alone or only with:

- a qualified spouse / civil partner / cohabitant or qualified child(ren); (if the qualified spouse is in receipt of half rate carer's, in addition to the IQA payment, they may qualify for fuel allowance, subject to a means test) or

- a person in receipt of a qualifying payment who would be entitled to the allowance in their own right or

- a person who is in receipt of carer’s allowance or carer’s benefit in respect of providing full-time care and attention to the fuel allowance applicant or their qualified  spouse / civil partner / cohabitant or qualified child(ren) or

- a person receiving short-term  jobseeker's allowance (JA) or basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance  (SWA) - i.e., less than 391 days for JA and less than 15 months/456 days for SWA).

Fuel allowance is not payable if an applicant lives with any person, including a family member, who is not covered by the criteria outlined.

Any decision to extend the qualifying criteria for Fuel Allowance in the manner outlined by the Deputy would change the targeted nature of the scheme and could only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, Additional 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.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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391. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person who was on disability allowance for many years and who took up a position on a community employment scheme can now make an application for the partial capacity benefit after having worked for four weeks on the scheme (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35503/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Partial Capacity Benefit (PCB) is a scheme which extends the Illness Benefit and Invalidity Pension schemes to recognise and respond to the reality that some people in receipt of these payments have a capacity to engage in open market employment while continuing to need to receive some income support from the State.  People in receipt of Invalidity Pension or Illness Benefit (the latter for a minimum of 26 weeks) who wish to return to work are eligible for PCB if their capacity for work is reduced as a result of their medical condition. 

The personal rate of payment of PCB is based on a medical assessment of a person’s restriction regarding their capacity for work.  After the medical assessment, if a person's disability is rated as moderate, severe or profound their payment continues at 50%, 75% or 100% per cent of their existing rate, respectively. If assessed as mild they will not qualify for PCB.  The duration a person can be in receipt of PCB is linked to the payment they moved from.  For someone moving from Illness Benefit, the maximum duration is two years (less the 26 weeks required to be eligible).  In the case of Invalidity Pension, a maximum duration of 156 weeks applies. 

Disability Allowance is not a qualifying payment for the Partial Capacity Benefit scheme.  However, Disability Allowance has been designed to support recipients to pursue employment opportunities, be that self-employment or insurable employment.  When a person commences employment, an income disregard of €140 per week is applied.  In addition, 50% of earnings between €140 and €375 are also disregarded for the purpose of the means test.  There is no duration limit where a person continues to be in receipt of Disability Allowance payment while in employment / self-employment.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.