Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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352. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the dates that back-to-school clothing and footwear allowances will be paid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38385/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The scheme operates from June to the end of September each year.

The allowance is payable in respect of eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a qualified child allowance is being paid and eligible children between the ages of 18 and 22 who are in full-time second level education and in respect of whom a qualified child allowance is being paid.

This year, the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance payment has been increased by €100 for the 2022 scheme year, building on the previously announced increase of €10. The rates of payment for the 2022 scheme year are €260 for children aged between 4 and 11 years and €385 for children aged 12 and over.

To date, 123,500 families in respect of 219,000 children have been awarded the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance and these families will receive their payment as outlined in their award notification this week, i.e. the week beginning 11 July. The additional €100 payment will issue to these families during the week commencing 18 July.

The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme opened to new applications on www.mywelfare.ie on 20 June. In the first 5 days of the scheme opening, over 10,500 applications were received. Officers are processing these applications as efficiently as possible and once the application is awarded, the payment will issue to the customer within the next 3 working days.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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353. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing eligibility thresholds for supplementary welfare allowance by 10%, 20%, 30% respectively, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38386/22]

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. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary.

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.

The household income amounts published in relation to additional needs payments are not an eligibility threshold, but are intended as an information guide to assist persons who may find themselves in financial difficulty and require assistance with essential expenses.

Guidelines issued to staff administering the scheme assist them in the decision making process and ensure consistency of service. However, they do not affect the discretion available to officers in issuing an additional needs payment to assist an individual or household in any particular hardship situation which may arise.

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

An additional needs payment amount, which can have a wide range value, will depend on a person’s weekly household income, their outgoings and the type of assistance needed.

On this basis, it is not possible to provide an estimated cost of increasing eligibility thresholds for additional needs payments by €10%, 20% and 30%.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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354. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of introducing a universal payment to all PAYE and self-employed workers who satisfy existing jobseeker’s benefit criteria of €200, €300, €400, €500 in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38387/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Jobseeker's Benefit (JB) and Jobseeker's Benefit (Self-employed) (JBSE) are social insurance schemes whereby entitlement is dependent on a person's PRSI contribution record. There are a number of statutory conditions applied under the schemes including that a person has experienced a loss of employment and is genuinely seeking to increase their employment. Unless a person can satisfy all of these conditions, they would not satisfy the criteria for jobseeker's benefit supports.

Information is not readily available as to how many people making PRSI contributions would satisfy the jobseeker's PRSI conditionality requirement, which includes an assessment of their contributions in the governing contribution year, which for 2022 is 2020. However, estimated weekly and annual costings for every 100,000 recipients of a universal payment of €200, €300, €400 and €500 would be as follows:

I hope this information is of assistance to the Deputy.