The supplementary welfare allowance scheme (SWA) provides for a supplement to be paid in respect of mortgage interest to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. The purpose of mortgage interest supplement is to provide short term income support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence. The supplement assists with the interest portion of the mortgage repayments only. A person may be entitled to a mortgage interest supplement provided that:
he or she is habitually resident in the State;
the loan agreement was entered into at a time when, in the opinion of the Health Service Executive, the person was in a position to meet the repayments;
the residence in respect of which the loan is payable, is not offered for sale; and
the mortgage interest payable does not exceed such amount as the Health Service Executive considers reasonable to meet his or her residential needs.
In exceptional circumstances, a supplement may be awarded where the mortgage interest exceeds such amount as the Executive considers reasonable but such a supplement is payable for a maximum of 12 months.
Mortgage interest supplements are normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of mortgage interest, has an income equal to the rate of SWA appropriate to family circumstances less a minimum contribution, currently €13, which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. Many recipients pay more than €13 because they are also required, subject to income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate basic SWA rate towards their accommodation costs.
All income, subject to income disregards, is assessable for mortgage interest supplement purposes excluding the following items:
Child benefit, including equivalent payments from other EU countries
Earnings from employment as a Home Help
Mobility Allowance
Guardian's Payment — Contributory or Non-Contributory
Payments received from the Health Service Executive for foster children.
Payments for accommodating children under the Child Care Act.
Income from Gaeltacht students
Domiciliary Care Allowance
Grants or allowances arising in pursuance of a scheme promoting the welfare of blind people.
Money received from charitable organisations e.g. St. Vincent de Paul
Compensation awarded by the Compensation Tribunal in respect of Hepatitis C contracted from certain blood products, compensation paid to those who have disabilities caused by Thalidomide and to those receiving compensation under the Residential Institutions Redress Board
Maintenance grants paid by Local Authorities for Higher Education
Respite Care Grant.
There is a number of income disregards which apply in the calculation of means for mortgage interest supplement purposes:
Pensioners — a special income disregard exists for those aged 65 years or over. Any additional income equal to the difference between the maximum rate of State (Contributory) Pension and the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to his or her circumstances can be disregarded.
Carer's allowance — in the case of a couple, where either spouse is a recipient of carer's allowance, the amount to be disregarded is the rate of carer's allowance in payment less the rate of SWA increase in respect of a qualified adult. In the case of a single person or a lone parent in receipt of Carer's allowance, the amount disregarded is the rate of carer's allowance in payment less the personal rate of SWA.
Half-rate Carer's allowance — all income received in respect of half-rate carer's allowance is disregarded in full.
Additional income allows a disregard, calculated as follows:
disregard of the first €75 a week of 'additional income'
disregard 25% of 'additional income' over €75 a week
There is no upper limit on the amount of additional income that can be disregarded.
‘Additional income' is the amount of income in excess of the SWA rate, applicable to household circumstances and includes income derived from part-time employment or self-employment (under 30 hours per week), any employment or training scheme (e.g. CE or FAS course), family income supplement and maintenance payments in excess of €95.23.
Earnings from rehabilitative employment — up to €120 of earnings from rehabilitative employment can be disregarded. However, this disregard cannot be applied together with ‘the additional income disregard'. Only one such disregard can be applied i.e. whichever is most beneficial to the applicant.
Capital (savings and investments) and the value of property owned but not personally used or enjoyed is assessed as means. Where capital or property is assessed on this basis, any income received from its use is not assessed as cash income. Instead, the following formula is used to establish weekly means:
Disregard first €5,000 of capital value of property/savings
Assess next €10,000 @ €1 per €1,000
Assess next €25,000 @ €2 per €1,000
Assess remaining capital over €40,000 @ €4 per €1,000.
I am satisfied that the mortgage interest supplement scheme provides an adequate short-term "safety net" within the overall social welfare system to ensure that people do not suffer hardship due to loss of employment.