The free telephone rental allowance scheme operated by my Department is available to people who are in receipt of certain social welfare type payments and who are either living alone or only with children or with persons who, because they are so permanently incapacitated, could not get help in an emergency. The main purpose of the scheme is to ensure that people in this vulnerable situation, particularly elderly people, have some way of getting help when it is needed.
The living alone condition has been modified to suit exceptional circumstances in a household. For example, if the applicant is a person who is permanently incapacitated and could not get help in an emergency, one other person may come to live with the applicant without affecting the entitlement. I am introducing two further improvements from July next in the free telephone rental allowance. First, if the applicant is in need of constant care and attention, a carer may join the household to take care of the applicant without affecting the entitlement. Second, if the recipient is 75 years of age or over, he or she will be entitled even if there is another person living in the household.
The question of extending the free telephone rental allowance to additional groups not covered at present would have financial implications and could only be considered in a budgetary context. The number of people currently availing of the allowance is about 114,000 and the annual cost of the scheme is about £20 million.
In so far as widows are concerned, I would like to mention that I have extended entitlement to my Department's free schemes from July next so as to allow widows of 60 years and over to retain entitlement to any free schemes formerly granted to their late husbands.