Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 339 and 357 together.

Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. It is a targeted payment to people dependent on specified long-term social welfare payments. The purpose of this payment is to assist those households most in need with their energy costs.

Taking account of the fact that the Fuel Allowance is a household-based payment and that qualification is not just based on the means test 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 potential cost of the measures outlined by the Deputy. My Department also does not maintain records across all schemes of the amount by which unsuccessful fuel applicants are over the income threshold. It is also worth noting that many people above the existing income threshold do not make an application.

The number of additional people that qualified for fuel allowance following the €20 weekly means threshold increase in Budget 2022 is not available yet as the Department collates data on an annual basis. When the change in means threshold for the scheme was introduced, it was estimated that up to 4,500 additional households could qualify for the payment. It should be noted that due to changes in circumstances, the number of qualifying recipients at any one time fluctuates on an ongoing basis.

The provision of any additional supports such as further increasing the allowable means for Fuel Allowance purposes would have cost implications and could only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist qualifying households with their energy costs.

Taking account of the fact that the Fuel Allowance is a household based payment and that qualification is not just based on the means test 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 potential cost of the measure outlined by the Deputy nor the additional number of persons who would qualify for the fuel allowance payment.

Qualifying payments for Fuel Allowance are those payments that are considered long term payments and an applicant must also satisfy a means test. People on long term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty. It is for this reason that the Department allocates additional payments, supports and resources to help this cohort of claimants.

In the majority of cases, Illness Benefit is a short-term payment for those who are certified by their GP as needing to take time out from their employment due to illness and, accordingly, is not a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance.

People who are permanently incapable of work may be eligible for the non-means-tested Invalidity Pension, subject to satisfying the relevant social insurance and medical criteria. Those who are substantially restricted in undertaking suitable employment arising from a medical condition may be eligible for the means-tested Disability Allowance, subject to meeting the relevant medical criteria. Recipients of both of these payments, subject to satisfying all qualifying conditions, may be eligible for Fuel Allowance.

Any decision to allow those in receipt of a short-term payment such as Illness Benefit to receive the Fuel Allowance payment would represent a fundamental change to the nature of the scheme and, as such, it would have to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context.

Finally, my Department provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme for people who have an urgent need, which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Officers.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Household Benefits package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. The package is generally available to people living in the State aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. The package is also available to some people under the age of 66, who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. My Department will spend approximately €273 million this year on HHB.

The allowable means for HHB purposes is €120 above the relevant State Pension Contributory rate. Applicants aged 70 or over do not have to satisfy a means test nor be in receipt of a qualifying payment.

It is not possible for my Department to provide an accurate projection of the potential cost of the measures outlined by the Deputy. My Department does not maintain records of the amount by which unsuccessful HHB applicants are over the income threshold. It is also worth noting that many people above the existing income threshold do not make an application.

Any decision to enhance the HHB package would have budgetary consequences and would have to be considered in the context of overall budget negotiations.

In Budget 2020, it was announced that for HHB applicants aged under 70 who are on a qualifying payment, another adult (except for the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of applicant) living in the household will no longer be a disqualifying condition for the purposes of the HHB Package. Therefore, the status and income of the members of a household (except for the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of applicant) does not prevent a HHB applicant from receiving the package.

My Department provides additional needs payments, where appropriate, to people who face difficulties in meeting fuel bills. These payments are not ring-fenced nor budget limited as they would be if they were drawn from an earmarked fund, but rather are demand led.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Household Benefits Package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €273 million this year on HHB. The package is generally available to people living in the State aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. The package is also available to some people under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments.

At the end of May this year, some 483,444 households were in receipt of the electricity/gas element of the HHB package. 431,588 were in receipt of the electricity element and 51,856 were in receipt of the gas element.

If the increases outlined in the question were introduced in 2023, the estimated average number of recipients would be 495,000 and the additional yearly cost of the measures would be as follows: -

Proposed Monthly Rate Increase	New Monthly Rate	Number of Recipients	Additional Yearly Cost
€5	€40	495,000	€29.7m
€10	€45	495,000	€59.4m
€15	€50	495,000	€89.1m

Any decision to enhance or increase the electricity and gas aspect of the package would have to be considered in a budgetary context

Finally, the Department of Social Protection provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme for people who have an urgent need, which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Officers.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department can make additional needs payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. It provides supports and services to help support people on low incomes and facing financial hardship.

The additional needs payment is an overarching term for exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements paid under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme. This scheme is administered by the Community Welfare Service of the Department of Social Protection.

The Government has provided funding of €45.75 million for the provision of exceptional and urgent needs that are provided for as Additional Needs Payment in 2022. A further provision of €5.3 million has been provided for SWA Supplements in 2022 (excluding rent supplement). The scheme is demand led and funding is not capped. The payment is available to anyone who needs it and qualifies, whether the person is currently receiving a social welfare payment or working on a low income.

An exceptional needs Payment (ENP) is a single payment to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. An urgent needs payment (UNP) may be made to persons who may not normally qualify for supplementary welfare allowance but who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources or where an alternative is not available at that time.

Payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme, taking into account the requirements of the legislation, and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.

While it is not possible to show the payment value for each individual ENP and UNP paid for the months in question, tables 1 and 2 show the breakdown by category of the number and total expenditure of ENPs and UNPs paid in each of the months for October 2021 to end of March 2022.

This represents a snapshot of claim activity taken at 4th July 2022 and is subject to change.

A Heating Supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances that have exceptional heating costs over and above the normal due to ill health, infirmity or a medical condition that has been certified by a Registered General Practitioner and are unable to meet those costs out of household income.

Heating supplements are payable at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme. All the relevant circumstances of the case are taken into account in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.

Guidance is provided to assist staff and does not limit the discretionary powers available to officers administering the scheme to assist an individual or household in any particular hardship situation which may arise.

I wish to assure the Deputy that the guidance issued to the Community Welfare Service officers on the Heating Supplement scheme is kept under review to ensure that it continues to support those most in need of assistance. If the Deputy has concerns in respect of a particular case he should bring the details to the attention of the Department.

Approximately 1,100 people benefited from this supplement in 2020 and approximately 1,000 in 2021. There are currently 946 claimants in receipt of a heating supplement. Table 3 shows the total number of heating supplement recipients at the end of each month for October 2021 to March 2022.

More generally, my Department also provides discretionary Exceptional Needs Payments (ENPs) where appropriate to people who face difficulties in meeting fuel bills. In 2021, over 2,300 exceptional needs payments totaling almost €750,000 were made to assist with household bills and heating costs. To the end of June 2022, some 1,450 exceptional needs payments totaling almost €530,000 were made to assist with household bills and heating costs.

Any person who considers they may have an entitlement to a payment under the SWA Scheme is encouraged to contact their local Intreo Centre. There is a National Community Welfare Contact Centre in place - 0818-607080 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Tabular Statement

Table 1 - The number by category of ENPs and UNPs paid in October/ November/December 2021, and January/February/March 2022.

Category	October 2021	November 2021	December 2021	January 2022	February 2022	March 2022
Bills	124	147	106	125	148	197
Child Related	161	193	129	129	170	172
Clothing	865	975	809	531	630	1,280
Funeral	202	222	137	193	252	238
General	1,213	1,298	1,351	941	1,088	1,512
Housing	2,009	2,117	1,844	1,557	1,834	1,781
Illness	102	115	75	94	104	103
Urgent Needs Payment	24	36	38	26	25	45
Total	4,700	5,103	4,489	3,596	4,251	5,328

Note: These figures are taken from the Department's ENP/UNP database and represent a snapshot of ENPs/UNPs as they are approved by an officer rather than when they are paid. The figures do not capture payments that are cancelled, payments that go out of date or overpayments recouped.

Table 2 - The total expenditure by category of ENPs and UNPs paid in October/ November/December 2021, and January/February/March 2022.

Category	October 2021	November 2021	December 2021	January 2022	February 2022	March 2022
Bills	€77,283	€112,727	€64,757	€79,198	€79,721	€99,643
Child Related	€26,622	€31,373	€21,230	€18,870	€26,220	€26,369
Clothing	€104,760	€117,494	€103,877	€62,247	€74,844	€164,728
Funeral	€432,183	€444,204	€312,845	€421,974	€576,924	€571,588
General	€272,448	€290,335	€327,786	€205,818	€224,699	€340,060
Housing	€2,319,620	€2,600,017	€2,387,573	€2,019,290	€2,317,537	€2,386,875
Illness	€13,560	€19,440	€13,883	€14,431	€16,325	€16,759
Urgent Needs Payment	€11,053	€21,913	€36,016	€9,066	€26,693	€38,115
Total	€3,257,529	€3,637,503	€3,267,967	€2,830,894	€3,342,963	€3,644,137

Note: These figures are taken from the Department's ENP/UNP database and represent a snapshot of ENPs/UNPs as they are approved by an officer rather than when they are paid. The figures do not capture payments that are cancelled, payments that go out of date or overpayments recouped.

Table 3 - Total number of heating supplement recipients at the end of each month for October 2021 to March 2022

Month (end of)	Total Number of Recipients
October 2021	982
November 2021	976
December 2021	977
January 2022	969
February 2022	959
March 2022	961

Note: These figures are taken from the Department's Heating Supplement database and represent a snapshot of Heating Supplements as they are approved by an officer rather than when they are paid. The figures do not capture payments that are cancelled, payments that go out of date or overpayments recouped.