Vol. 405 No. 9
44 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social Welfare when he proposes to assess applicants for rent supplements under the supplementary welfare allowances scheme on the basis of their actual income rather than the notional supplementary welfare allowance rate, given that the majority of recipients of rent supplements are single long term unemployed on £52 per week who are assessed on the basis of a notional income of £45.
The rent supplements in question are payable within the terms of the scheme of supplementary welfare allowance and the amounts of rent supplement payable in particular cases are calculated by reference to the current rates of supplementary welfare allowance under that scheme.
The scheme provides that a weekly rent supplement may be paid where a person's rent exceeds £3.50 a week and that, in general, when payable, it will leave the claimant with a disposable income, after payment of rent, which is equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to that person less £3.50. Consequently income which the person may be receiving in excess of the appropriate supplementary welfare allowance is taken into account in determining the rent supplement.
Single persons on the long-term rate of unemployment assistance receive a personal rate of £52, which is £7 a week in excess of the appropriate rate of supplementary welfare allowance of £45 a week in relation to which the rent supplement is calculated. This year's social welfare increase provides for a special increase in the basic rate of supplementary welfare allowance of over 11 per cent from £45 to £50, and this will reduce the differential. The short term rate of unemployment assistance will now also be £50.
The question of changing the method of calculating rent supplements would have financial implications and could only be considered in a budgetary context.
