Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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470. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the decision to disallow a fuel allowance application by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry will be reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24391/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. The payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) is paid from late September to April. One of the conditions for receipt of fuel allowance is that a person must satisfy a means test.

Since January 2023, the threshold for the fuel allowance means test for those aged over 70 is €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple without the need to be in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment. In this case, the threshold is €500 per week.

It was decided on 16th February 2023, that the person concerned was not entitled to a fuel allowance as her income, derived from a private pension, was in excess of the current income threshold. This decision has since been reviewed and the outcome remains the same.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, Additional Needs Payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources, and this may include exceptional heating costs. Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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471. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the limit of off-farm earnings in farm assist by €5, €10 and €20; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24398/23]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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472. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the depreciation of assets for farm assist to 10%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24399/23]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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473. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the capital disregard of farm assist to €36,000; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24400/23]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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482. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost to increase the amount of income disregarded in respect of the farm assist scheme to 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 70%, respectively, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24642/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 471, 472, 473 and 482 together.

Farm Assist is a statutory income support specifically for farmers on low-incomes. There are approximately 4,300 claims in payment at present. The Government has provided €49.4 million for the scheme in 2023.

The amount paid weekly to a person in receipt of Farm Assist is dependent on a number of factors, including family composition, earnings from farming, off-farm employment or self-employment and income from Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine schemes. The means assessment under this scheme is generous when compared with the means test applied under Jobseeker's Allowance for other self-employed individuals. Farmers also retain access to activation programmes.

I have introduced a number of improvements to the means test for Farm Assist in the last eighteen months.

Under the Farm Assist means test, income from a range of agri-environmental schemes attract a disregard of €5,000, increased from €2,540 from January 2023, with 50% of the balance assessed as means. There are also annual disregards for dependent children; €254 for each of the first two children and €381 for the third and other children. Remaining farm income and income from off-farm self-employment is then assessed at 70%, with 30% disregarded. It is estimated that the approximate estimates annual cost, for every 1,000 recipients, of increasing the income disregard from 30% to 40% would be €0.6 million; to 50% would be €1.1 million; to 60% would be €1.7 million; and to 70% would be €2.3 million.

Further to the commitment in the Programme for Government and in the Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, my Department in 2021 reviewed the means assessment disregards for Farm Assist. The report is available on the Government's website. One of the key recommendations of the report was to provide for an extensive expansion to the list of agri-environmental schemes that qualify for a disregard, which I introduced effective from June 2022. I announced additional schemes to the already-expanded list in Budget 2023, and this measure took effect in April 2023.

In line with the provisions for Jobseeker's Allowance, a disregard of €20 per day, up to a maximum of €60 for up to three days, applies to off-farm earnings from employment in the means test for Farm Assist, with 60% of the balance assessed as means. The cost of increasing the disregard would depend on the number of farmers in off-farm employment and the number of days worked and this information is not readily available.

In line with other means tested social welfare schemes, the first €20,000 of capital is not assessed under Farm Assist. It is estimated that increasing the capital disregard to €36,000 would cost between €0.5 million and €1.0 million per annum. In addition, there may be an unknown number of people who do not currently qualify for a payment as their means are in excess of the maximum amount permitted, and who would qualify in the event of an increase in the amount disregarded.

Where capital assets, such as farm machinery or equipment, are purchased outright, an allowance for depreciation relative to their usage is made. There would be a cost to increase the depreciation to a standard rate of 10% which would require a detailed analysis to provide an accurate costing. This information is not readily available.

Any further changes to the Farm Assist scheme would have to be considered in a budgetary context, within the scope of the overall resources available for welfare improvements and with consideration to other social welfare schemes.

I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.