Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Social welfare legislation provides that, for social assistance schemes, income and capital (such as savings, investments and property other than the family home) belonging to the claimant and his or her partner, where applicable, is assessable for means assessment purposes. Means test rules in my Department are kept under regular review and I have introduced a number of significant changes in recent years including:

• Providing for higher income disregards. These disregards ensure that, where people are in receipt of a social assistance payment and are working, their income from work to the level of the income disregard, is not assessed in the means test.
• Expanding the list of agri-environmental schemes that qualify for a disregard, and as part of Budget 2023 I increased this disregard.
• Introduced a Rent a Room disregard, for all Social Protection schemes, to enable recipients to support those arriving from Ukraine, and others, in a tight housing market. Earlier this year, I extended that provision for a further two years.
• From January 2023 I introduced significant changes to eligibility rules for Fuel Allowance, including a new means threshold for people aged 70 years and over - €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple. These changes resulted in an additional 35,000 households joining the scheme so far.
• Last year, I significantly increased the income and capital disregards for Carer's Allowance. This enables more carers with modest incomes to become eligible for the scheme and allows carers and their families to earn more from employment while retaining their carer’s payment.
• As part of Budget 2024 further increased the disregard to €450 for a single person, and €900 for carers with a spouse/partner from June.
• I recently signed Regulations which provide for disregards in relation to UCD's Cothram na Féinne scholarship programme, benefiting third level students from lower income households.

I have committed to carrying out a broad review of means testing. This is ongoing and it will be completed in Q1 2024.