Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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473. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied); if the case will be reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15309/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The person concerned applied for Partial Capacity Benefit (PCB) on the 9 January 2023.

Partial Capacity Benefit is a social welfare scheme which allows the claimant to return to work or self-employment (if the have reduced capacity to work) and continue to receive a payment from my department. The rules governing PCB are that a person must be in receipt of payment of Illness Benefit or Invalidity Pension on the day immediately before the application for PCB is made.

In the case of Illness Benefit, the person must also be in receipt of Illness Benefit for 6 months priorto making the application. Where this occurs, PCB will then remain payable for the duration of an underlying Illness Benefit entitlement that remains.

On 10 January 2023 the person concerned was disallowed PCB as they had no current underlying entitlement to Illness Benefit. Their Illness Benefit claim had stopped on the 3 January 2023 as their entitlement had exhausted, prior to their application for PCB.

The person concerned appealed this decision to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) and their file was submitted to that office on the 2 March 2023. We await the Appeal Officers decision and will implement as soon as it is received.

I trust this clarifies for the Deputy.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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474. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a decision has been made on a working family payment application by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15311/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Working Family Payment (WFP), formerly Family Income Supplement, is a weekly in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. To qualify for Working Family Payment, the customer must be working a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight in ongoing insurable employment and have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them.

An application for WFP was received from the person concerned on 16th October 2022. The application was examined by a deciding officer and further information was requested from the person concerned. Upon receipt of this information, the WFP application was reviewed by a deciding officer on 23rd March 2023 and awarded at a rate of €118.00 per week from 20th October 2022 to 18th October 2023. The person concerned has been advised in writing of their award and arrears have issued to their nominated bank account.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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475. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Kerry would be eligible for a casual jobseeker’s top-up; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15322/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Person Concerned has not made an application for a Jobseekers payment. If unemployed the Person Concerned should make an application either by way of MyWelfare.ie or by paper application which they can obtain through their Local Intreo Office.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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476. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a claimant (details supplied) can have their disability benefit restored given that their partner has returned to work and is no longer receiving their own disability benefit payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15334/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions.

My Department received correspondence from the person concerned on 24 February 2023, notifying a change of circumstances regarding his DA. I can confirm that, following a review of their circumstances, the person concerned has had their payment restored.

The first payment at the new rate will be made by the person's chosen payment method on 29 March 2023. The person concerned was notified in writing of this decision on 24 March 2023.

Arrears of payment due, resulting from a change in circumstances, will issue as soon as possible once any necessary adjustment is calculated and applied in respect of any overlapping payments (if applicable).

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.