Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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508. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of applications for exceptional needs payments in the past three years to date; the numbers pending, refused and successful in the same period; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25006/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the customer’s own resources, and which are deemed to be necessary.

Payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme, taking into account the requirements of the legislation, and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.

The reporting of this scheme was revised in 2022 to extract more complete information in relation to registrations and refusals and to include reoccurring supplements in the overarching term of an Additional Needs Payment.

Table 1 provides the number of ANPs registered for 2022 and 2023. Statistics are not available on applications received for 2021.

Table 2 provides the number of ANPs awarded for 2022 and 2023. It also includes the number of ANPs excluding reoccurring supplements, awarded for 2021.

During the period 2022 to end of March 2023, 21,970 claims have been disallowed.

At the end of March 2023, there were 6,383 claims pending.

I encourage any person who considers they may have an entitlement to contact their local community welfare service. There is a National Community Welfare Contact Centre in place - 0818-607080 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office. In addition, applications can be made online via www.mywelfare.ie.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Table 1: The number of ANPs registered for 2022 and 2023 (to end of March).

Table 2 : The number of ANPs awarded for 2022 and 2023. The number of ANPs excluding reoccurring supplements awarded for 2021.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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509. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of deserted wives' benefit payments that have been discontinued for whatever reason in the course of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25007/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Deserted Wife's Benefit scheme, introduced in 1973, was closed to new applications with effect from 2 January 1997, when One Parent Family Payment was introduced. Deserted Wife's Benefit was payable to a woman deserted by her husband, based on the social insurance contributions paid by the wife or her husband. Currently, the scheme has 4,554 recipients.

As a closed scheme, remaining Deserted Wife’s Benefit claims are stopped for a variety of reasons including: when the woman remarries, commences cohabitation, passes away, or transfers to another social protection payment.

The table below provides the number of claims stopped, per year, for the past 5 years and to date in 2023:

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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510. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of widow's pension payments that have been discontinued for whatever reason in the course of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25008/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) Pension is a weekly payment to the husband, wife or civil partner of a deceased person. Either you or your deceased spouse or civil partner must have enough social insurance (PRSI) contributions.

At the end of December 2017, there were 121,091 recipients of this scheme. At the 31st of December 2022, 30,476 of these individuals were no longer recipients on this scheme.