Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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513. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the instruction that is given to local community welfare officers regarding the exceptional needs' payment (details supplied); the number of applications that have been received; the number of applications that have been approved; the overall amount of payouts that were approved in 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34910/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government is acutely aware of recent price increases and their impact on low income households and those who are dependent on social welfare.  For this reason, this Government did not await a further budget cycle to address these challenges but acted early.  Overall, the tax and spending measures we have introduced to ease the burden and provide support to those most in need have amounted to €2.4 billion.  

The Government continues to monitor the situation carefully in preparation for the Budget later this year.  I will be meeting a range of NGOs at the Department's pre-budget forum later this month and will listen carefully to the views expressed.

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 administrative umbrella 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 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.

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.

The scheme is demand led.  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 Department is developing more extensive statistics in relation to the number of applications made to the ENP/UNP schemes.  The focus of the development has been on current data from January 2022 with details on the number of applications available from this date onward.  Details of applications pre-January 2022 are not available at this time, however it is possible to provide details on the number of payments that were made.

Table 1 shows the number of ENPs/UNPs awarded and total expenditure for 2020-2022 (end of June).

Table 2 shows the number of ENP/UNP applications received/awarded to-date in 2022 (end of June).

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

Any person who considers they may have an entitlement to an additional needs payment is encouraged to contact their local community welfare service.  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. 

TABLE 1 – Number of ENP/UNPs awarded and total expenditure for 2020-2022(to end of June)

TABLE 2 – Number of ENP/UNP applications received/awarded to-date in 2022(to end of June)

Note:These figures in tables 1 and 2 are taken from the Department’s ENP/UNP database and represent a snapshot of the ENPs/UNPs as they are approved by an officer rather than when they are paid.  Please note the figures do not capture payments that are cancelled, payments that go out of date or overpayments recouped.