Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Living Alone Increase is paid to people aged 66 and over, who live alone and are in receipt of certain social welfare payments: the State Pension (Contributory), State Pension (Non-Contributory); Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) Pension; Widow's/Widower's Pension under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme; Incapacity Supplement under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme or Deserted Wife's Benefit or Allowance.

The Increase is also paid to people aged under 66 who live alone and are in receipt of the following social welfare payments: Disability Allowance; Invalidity Pension; Incapacity Supplement or Blind Pension.

The Living Alone Increase has increased from €9 in 2019 to €22 in 2022. It rose from €9 to €14 per week in January 2020; from €14 to €19 per week in January 2021 and from €19 to €22 per week in January 2022.

In addition, those in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance received a once-off lump sum payment of €200 in the week of 14 November 2022. This cost €46 million and 191,800 pensioners and 42,200 working age recipients benefited, which is a total of 234,000 beneficiaries.

The breakdown requested may be found in the Department's Statistical Reports for each year as follows:

• Page 79 of the Department's Annual Statistics Report for 2020 at www.gov.ie/en/publication/802ec-2020-annual-statistics-report/
• Page 83 of the Department's Annual Statistics Report for 2021 at www.gov.ie/en/publication/9262a-2021-annual-statistics-report/

The Department's Annual Statistics Report for 2022 will be published shortly.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Fuel Allowance is a means tested payment to assist pensioners and other longer-term social welfare dependent households with their winter heating costs. The payment is a contribution towards heating costs; it is not intended to meet these costs in full. The payment is made over the winter season at the weekly rate of €33.00 or, if preferred, by way of two instalment payments. Only one Fuel Allowance is payable per household. Those who qualify for the payment do not need to reapply annually.

At the time of my appointment, on 27 June 2020, as Minister for Social Protection, the rate of Fuel Allowance was €24.50 weekly, payable over a 28-week season. From 4 January 2021, I increased the weekly rate to €28.00. From 11 October 2021, I further increased the rate by €5, bringing the weekly rate up to €33.00, which is the current rate.

In addition, during my time as Minister for Social Protection, and in recognition of the increasing energy costs for households, I secured a number of one-off payments for those in receipt of Fuel Allowance. In March 2022, an extra €125 was paid to all Fuel Allowance recipients; a further additional payment of €100 was made in May 2022; and, another significant additional payment of €400 was made to these households in November 2022.

As well as the rate changes and the additional support payments issued, there were also changes introduced to the qualifying conditions for the Fuel Allowance scheme.

Changes announced in Budget 2022 included:

• an increase in the weekly means threshold by €20 to €120 above the appropriate rate of state pension (contributory), enabling more people to qualify for the support; and,
• a reduction in the qualifying period for Jobseeker’s and Supplementary Welfare Allowance recipients from 15 months to 12 months with effect from September 2022, again enabling more people to qualify for the support.

In Budget 2023, Government announced the largest ever expansion of the Fuel Allowance Scheme. The changes introduced were:

• from January 2023, the introduction of a new means threshold for people aged 70 years and over, of €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple;
• in addition, for applicants aged 70 or over, the amount of capital (savings and investments) disregarded in the means test for Fuel Allowance was increased from €20,000 to €50,000. (Savings over €50,000 are assessed on a proportionate basis only); and,
• from January 2023, Disablement Benefit and Half-rate Carer’s Allowance payments were disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes. Disablement Benefit also no longer debars a household from receiving the Fuel Allowance payment.

There were some other changes also made to the Fuel Allowance qualifying criteria as follows:

• From September 2020, although the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is not a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance purposes, it did not prevent an otherwise qualified household from receiving Fuel Allowance. For the purposes of deciding Fuel Allowance entitlement, PUP was disregarded for means testing purposes.
• From September 2021, where an increase in respect of a qualified child on a fuel allowance recipient’s claim ceases because the child reached 22 years, Fuel Allowance can remain in payment where the previously qualified child remains in full-time education and is not in receipt of any disqualifying social welfare payments or is in employment. This saver clause is subject to all other qualifying conditions for Fuel Allowance being met.
• As the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is a statutory benefit, periods spent in receipt of this payment immediately before a Jobseeker’s Allowance claim can be considered towards the 390 days necessary to qualify for Fuel Allowance.
• A person who transfers from the long-term disability related schemes of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, or Blind Pension to a recognised training or educational course can qualify for Fuel Allowance while participating on the course. Qualification for Fuel Allowance will be subject to satisfying all the relevant qualifying conditions.
• From September 2022, a Rent-A-Room means disregard applies to Fuel Allowance applicants who rent a room in their own home. This allows income of up to a limit of €269.23 weekly in respect of renting a room in their own home to be disregarded for the purposes of the Fuel Allowance means test.
• Payments received under the Accommodation Recognition Payment Scheme are disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes.

It is not possible to quantify the number of recipients who have benefitted from each of the above mentioned measures.

By the end of the 2022/23 Fuel Allowance season, in April 2023, the total number of households supported had increased to over 404,000. It should be remembered that the number of qualified households continuously fluctuates, as recipients join and exit the scheme as their circumstances change.

The number of Fuel Allowance recipients, by county, at end April 2023 were as follows:

County	Recipients
Cork	42,953
Clare	10,778
Cavan	7,334
Carlow	6,714
Dublin	86,222
Donegal	20,167
Galway	21,454
Kildare	13,782
Kilkenny	7,811
Kerry	15,332
Limerick	18,716
Longford	5,273
Louth	13,451
Leitrim	4,096
Laois	6,750
Meath	12,364
Monaghan	5,819
Mayo	15,658
Offaly	7,583
Roscommon	6,485
Sligo	7,015
Tipperary	17,884
Waterford	13,238
Westmeath	8,408
Wicklow	11,290
Wexford	17,554

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.