Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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412. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost to increase the amount of income disregarded in respect of the farm assist scheme to 30% to 40%, 50%, 60% and 70%, respectively; in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35863/22]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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413. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the limit of off-farm earnings in farm assist by €5, €10 and €20; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35864/22]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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414. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the depreciation of assets for farm assist to 10%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35865/22]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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415. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the capital disregard of farm assist to €36,000; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35866/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 412 to 415, inclusive, together.

Farm Assist is a statutory income support specifically for farmers on low-incomes.  There are approximately 4,700 claims in payment at present.  The Government has provided €53.9 million for the scheme for 2022.  

 The amount paid weekly to a person in receipt of Farm Assist is dependent on a number of factors, including family composition, earnings from farming, off-farm employment or self-employment and income from Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine schemes.  The means assessment under this scheme is generous when compared with the means test applied under Jobseeker's Allowance for other self-employed individuals.  Farmers also retain access to activation programmes.

Under the farm assist means test, income from a range of agri-environmental schemes attract a disregard of €2,540, with 50% of the balance assessed as means.  There are also annual disregards for dependent children; €254 for each of the first two children and €381 for the third and other children. Remaining farm income and income from off-farm self-employment is then assessed at 70%, with 30% disregarded.  The approximate estimated annual cost, for every 1,000 recipients, of increasing the income disregard from 30% to 40% would be €0.6 million; to 50% would be €1.1 million; to 60% would be €1.7 million; and to 70% would be €2.3 million. 

Further to the commitment in the Programme for Government and in the Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, my Department recently reviewed the means assessment disregards for the Farm Assist.  The report is available on the Government's website.  One of the key recommendations of the report was to provide for an extensive expansion to the list of agri-environmental schemes that qualify for a disregard which I recently introduced effective from June 2022.  

In line with the provisions for Jobseeker's Allowance, a disregard of €20 per day, up to a maximum of €60 for up to three days, applies to off-farm earnings from employment in the means test for Farm Assist.  The cost of increasing the disregard would depend on the number of farmers in off-farm employment and the number of days worked and this information is not readily available.  The impact of this measure on a Farm Assist recipient who works 8 hours for 1 day a week at minimum wage and has means of €38 deducted from their weekly payment would be as follows: the means would reduce to €35 if the disregard was increased to €25 per day, €32 if the disregard was €30 per day and €26 if the disregard was €40 per day. 

In line with other means tested social welfare schemes, the first €20,000 of capital is not assessed under Farm Assist.  The Review estimated that some 700 Farm Assist recipients would benefit from an increase in the amount disregarded in the capital assessment.  Increasing the capital disregard  to €36,000 would cost between €0.5 and €1 million per annum.  There may also be a number of persons who do not currently qualify for a payment as their means are in excess of the maximum amount permitted as a result, inter alia, of capital held who would qualify due to the increase in the initial amount disregarded. 

Where capital assets, such as farm machinery or equipment, are purchased outright, an allowance for depreciation relative to their usage is made.  There would be a cost to increase the depreciation to a standard rate of 10% which would require a detailed analysis to provide an accurate costing.  This information is not readily available.

Any changes to the Farm Assist scheme would have to be considered in a budgetary context, within the scope of the overall resources available for welfare improvements and with consideration to other social welfare schemes.

I trust this clarifies the position.