Written answers
Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Eligibility
Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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507. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the situation facing old age pensioners who have lost their entitlement to fuel allowance, due to the fact that their adult children who are not in receipt of an qualifying payment have had to move back in with them due to the housing shortage; the steps that she intends to take to address the problem; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51390/22]
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 criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria including the household composition criteria. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.
An adult child of a householder moving back into the family home may result in a reduction of additional allowances such as the Fuel Allowance payment previously held by the householder. However, the economies of scale from living together should mean that a contribution towards household costs by the person moving in would compensate for any such reduction in payments from my Department.
A change in the qualifying criteria such as that proposed by the Deputy, disregarding the income of the returning family member, would change the targeted nature of the scheme and would likely result in payments being directed to households with significant income.
Therefore, my Department is not considering any proposals to amend the Fuel Allowance qualifying criteria to allow for the continued payment of Fuel Allowance in the circumstances outlined by the Deputy.
There will always be exceptional cases and it is for this reason that the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme was introduced. In the event that the return of a family member into the household results in a reduction in Fuel Allowance payment, with no compensating contribution by the family member, then a payment may be made in the form of a heating supplement under this scheme.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
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