asked the Minister for Social Welfare the present position regarding the claim for invalidity pension of a person (details supplied) in County Offaly; and when a decision will be made on her claim.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
89.
The person concerned appears to satisfy the medical and contribution conditions for invalidity pension. It will be necessary for her to formally apply for pension. A claim form has now been forwarded to her and a pension will be awarded on its return.
90.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 22 the reason for the delay in paying disability benefit to the applicant; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The person concerned had been on unemployment benefit and then claimed disability benefit. All payments due to 23 November 1987, the date of the latest medical evidence received, have now been issued.
There was a delay in calculating the initial payment while confirmation of his receipt of unemployment benefit was being received. Because the disability benefit claim arises immediately after entitlement to unemployment benefit, there are no waiting days and the person has been paid disability benefit from 5 November.
91.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare regarding an application for contributory old age pension filed by a person (details supplied) in County Waterford, if the decision to reject the application can be reversed and the pension granted on the basis that the applicant has an average of 19 reckonable contributions from 1953, but in addition to this was making contributions since the early forties.
One of the qualifying conditions for receipt of a contributory old age pension under the Social Welfare Acts requires a person to have a yearly average of at least 20 reckonable contributions over the period from the beginning of the 1953 contribution year or from his year of entry into insurance, whichever is the later, to the end of the last complete contribution year before reaching pension age.
The Department's records show that the person concerned had a total of 624 reckonable contributions in the relevant period which, in his case, is from 5 January 1953 to 5 April 1986. This total is equivalent to a yearly average of 18 and is, therefore not sufficient to qualify him for a contributory old age pension; the contributions paid by him prior to 1953 cannot be taken into account in order to determine his yearly average.
92.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if the method of means of assessment for unemployment assistance has been changed in recent months by his Department; if the allowance for mortgage or rent has been abolished where a claimant is married or otherwise; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The legislative basis for the assessment of means for unemployment assistance purposes is contained in section 146 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981, as amended. This section was last amended by section 13 of the Social Welfare (No. 2) Act, 1985 which provided for equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security.
Prior to the implementation of the equal treatment provisions allowance was made for rent or mortgage payments where the wife of an unemployment assistance claimant was employed under a contract of service. The allowance, which was deducted from the net earnings of the claimant's wife, was made as a household expense when assessing the value to the husband as "head of the household" of his wife's income from employment. No such allowance was made in respect of unmarried claimants.
The Act of 1985, which came into operation in November 1986, provided for the deletion of the reference to the "head of the household" because the concept was incompatible with the principle of equal treatment. The amended legislation provides that the value to the household of all income earned by the claimant's spouse must be assessed as means. As rent and mortgage payments are of value to the household, they are not disregarded in assessing the spouse's income as means. Allowance is made, however, in respect of employment related expenses incurred by a spouse.
The Social Welfare (Preservation of Rights) (No. 2) Regulations 1986 provide for transitional arrangements for certain persons who were adversely affected by the equal treatment provisions. These regulations, which pending review have been extended until the end of this year, include provision for the continuation of allowances made in respect of rent or mortgage payments in assessing the value to a person as head of the household of his spouse's income from employment in cases where the claimant had been in receipt of unemployment assistance in November 1986.