John Ellis
Question:163 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will recoup two local authorities their losses due to waiver of service charge in respect of social welfare recipients. [9359/95]
Written Answers. - Service Charges Losses.
I have no plans to recoup what are essentially notional losses incurred by local authorities as a result of waiving service charges in the case of social welfare recipients. The general question of local authority finance is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment.
Various local authorities choose a variety of criteria, including receipt of a supplementary welfare allowance to establish an entitlement to a waiver of service charges. The income from such service charges is not directly related to the service concerned. In addition, local authorities take into account the fact that a proportion of householders will not be in a position to pay the service charges and set the level of their charges accordingly.