Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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131. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will review the eligibility criteria for fuel allowance to ensure that it is available to all recipients of social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59283/22]

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. 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 a means test and the household composition criteria. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment is targeted at 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.

Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for Fuel Allowance in the manner outlined by the Deputy would change the targeted nature of the payment and would have to be considered in the context of overall scheme policy and budgetary considerations.

In Budget 2023, I secured funding for the largest ever expansion of the Fuel Allowance scheme. It is estimated that this expansion could bring up to 81,000 additional households into the scheme. The changes announced take effect from the first week in January.

For applicants aged 70 and over, there is a new means test limit of €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple. Under the formula used to assess means for the Fuel Allowance for over 70s, the threshold for capital that is disregarded in the assessment will increase from €20,000 to €50,000. Also, from next January, an over-70 applicant no longer needs to be in receipt of a qualifying payment. Existing household composition rules continue to apply.

For applicants under age 70, the weekly means threshold is being increased by €80, from €120 to €200 above the appropriate weekly rate of State Pension Contributory.

From January 2023, Disablement Benefit and Half-Rate Carer's Allowance payments will be disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes.

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.