Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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38. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason that the fuel allowance has not been extended to working family payment recipients. [50629/22]

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, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. Only one allowance is paid per household.

The Fuel Allowance is paid to social welfare recipients such as pensioners, people with disabilities, lone parents and long-term unemployed people in recognition of their long-term financial dependence on their social welfare payment for all or most of their income.

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 such as Fuel Allowance to this cohort of claimants.

The Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly, tax-free payment available to employees with children. It gives extra financial support to families with children with rates depending on their incomes and family size. It is not considered a long-term Social Protection payment and recipients are in full time employment and are more likely to have additional resources. A person in receipt of the WFP can continue to receive the payment for 52 weeks even if their income increases.

While no provision was made in Budget 2023 to allow persons in receipt of the WFP to access the Fuel Allowance payment as part of the overall social welfare Budget 2023 package of €2.2 Billion, I was pleased to announce a number of measures in relation to the WFP. In November 2022, people receiving the WFP will get a once-off payment of €500 and in January 2023, the WFP income limits will increase by €40 across all family sizes.

For people parenting alone and who are on a social welfare scheme such as the One-Parent Family Payment, they may also receive the double-week payment in October and the Christmas Bonus in December.

Many of those on the WFP will also benefit from the non-social welfare cost of living measures announced in the Budget such as theenhanced electricity credit of €600 which will be applied to electricity bills.

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.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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39. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the rationale behind the method for means testing capital for means-tested social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50320/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The system of social assistance supports provides payments based on an income need. The means test plays a critical role in determining whether or not an income need arises as a consequence of a particular contingency – such as disability, unemployment or caring. This ensures that the recipient has a verifiable income need and that resources are targeted to those who need them most.

Means tests are kept under regular review and a number of significant changes have been made in recent years. In particular, I have introduced a number of changes to means testing which provide for higher income disregards. These disregards ensure that, where people are in receipt of a social assistance payment and are working, a certain level of income from that work is not assessed in the means test.

A maximum rate is payable where a person has limited or no means, and tapering applies to the rate payable to those with modest or more substantial means. This is because there is an expectation that those with resources can at least partly contribute towards supporting themselves.

Social welfare legislation provides that, for social assistance schemes, income and capital (such as savings, investments and property other than the family home) belonging to the claimant and his or her partner, where applicable, is assessable for means assessment purposes.

How capital is assessed can vary depending on the nature and purpose of the payment, and various disregards apply across the schemes, reducing the amount of means assessed.

For most social assistance schemes, the first €20,000 of capital is fully disregarded, the next €10,000 assessed at €1 per thousand, the next €10,000 assessed at €2 per thousand, with the remainder assessed at €4 per thousand.

For Disability Allowance and Carer’s Allowance, the first €50,000 of capital is fully disregarded. The Disability Allowance capital disregard was increased to €50,000 in 2007 in recognition of the fact that a person who is in receipt of Disability Allowance may not have had the opportunity to accumulate savings and that, in some circumstances, families may wish to make future financial provision for a child or sibling but are concerned that such provision would adversely affect their entitlement to Disability Allowance.

I increased the Carer’s Allowance disregard in Budget 2022 for similar reasons; family carers may decide to provide for the future care of children or adults with disabilities. Increasing the disregard in line with Disability Allowance allows for the planning of future care needs.

Recently, as part of Budget 2023 I introduced significant changes in the means test for Fuel Allowance, including an increase in the overall threshold to €200 over the relevant State Pension (Contributory) rate - an increase of €80 in the allowable means.

Further to this, I made additional targeted changes, in relation to disregarding income from Disablement Benefit and Half Rate Carers allowance, in the means test for Fuel Allowance.

It is estimated that these changes, combined, will help more than 17,000 additional households to qualify for Fuel Allowance next year.

Any changes to the capital disregards would have cost implications and would have to be considered in the overall policy and budgetary context.