The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the regional health boards. Under the terms of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme payment of a weekly or monthly supplement may be made in respect of rent or mortgage interest to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet his or her needs.
The scheme is subject to a means test. Under standard supplementary welfare allowance rules rent supplements are normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to his or her family circumstances, less a minimum contribution of €12 which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. Up to €50 per week is disregarded in the means test in the case of a person taking up part-time employment.
Supplementary welfare allowance is not normally payable to people in full time employment. However, special arrangements have been in place for a number of years which allow people on approved schemes such as the back to work scheme to retain part of their rent or mortgage interest supplement, subject to a gross household income limit of €317.43 per week and certain other conditions.
In no circumstances do these rules result in a lower rate of rent supplement than is payable under the standard rules of supplementary welfare allowance. As a participant on the back to work scheme, a person may opt to be assessed in accordance with the new tapered withdrawal system or under standard supplementary welfare allowance rules and will be entitled to whichever option is more beneficial.
It is already the case, therefore, that back to work participants may already retain their entitlement to rent supplement for a specified period. Where individuals leave a back to work scheme to take up full-time employment they can continue to retain a portion of their rent supplement for the remaining period of the four year cycle if they continue to satisfy the prescribed household income limit of €317.43 per week.
Any further changes in the qualification criteria for receipt of rent supplement will be considered as part of the review of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme currently under way in my Department.