Written Answers. - Social Welfare Allowances.
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
Question:
268
Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn
asked the
Minister for Social Welfare
the number of people in receipt of rent allowances under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme in each of the health board areas; and the average and the median level of payment per claimant in each health board for the two most recent years for which figures are available.
[15974/95]
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn
Question:
269
Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn
asked the
Minister for Social Welfare
the number of people in receipt of mortgage allowance under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme in each health board area and the average and the median level of payment per claimant in each health board area for the two most recent years for which figures are available.
[15975/95]
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 268 and 269 together.
Information relating to rent and mortgage supplements on a health board basis prior to 1994 is not available. This type of information was provided for in 1994 following the introduction of a new system for the collection of data relating to the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.
The system is fully operational in seven health boards and the North-Western Health Board compiles similar statistical data from its own computer system. Details of the number of rent and mortage supplement cases payable in each of the health board areas for the year 1994 and for the first six months of 1995 are shown on the attached tabular statement.
There is a tendency for the total number of cases recorded per annum to be overstated because of the high level of transience among rent supplement recipients in particular. A person in receipt of supplement who moves to a different district is recorded as a new case. Accordingly, the average — mean — level of supplement calculated on the basis of annual expenditure divided by the total number of cases is not reliable.
However, specific research on average rent supplement levels was carried out recently in connection with the work of the review group on the role of supplementary welfare allowance in relation to housing. A special analysis of rent supplement clients for all health board areas, with the exception of the North-Western Health Board, in the month of December 1994 found that, overall, the average rent supplement payable was £34.30 per week.
Data was obtained on average rent supplements for a range of client types, distinguishing between Dublin and the rest of the country and the following results were obtained:
|
Client Type
|
Dublin per week
|
Rest of the Country per week
|
|
£
|
£
|
|
Single Person
|
29.90
|
25.10
|
|
Married Couple
|
41.00
|
27.70
|
|
Married Couple with Children
|
64.40
|
38.70
|
|
Lone Parents
|
56.90
|
33.40
|
|
All
|
37.70
|
28.00
|
Information relating to the median level of rent or mortgage supplement is not available.
Between 1989 and 1994 total expenditure on rent and mortgage supplements increased from £7 million to £54 million. In September 1994 the Government established a review group to review the increasing role of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme in housing provision and, in particular, to identify the factors underlying the increase in expenditure on rent and mortgage supplements; to look at future trends; to consider the most cost effective means of assisting people on low incomes in meeting their housing needs and to identify appropriate ways of assisting tenants of voluntary housing schemes who are unable to afford the rents charged.
The group is comprised of representatives of the Departments of Social Welfare, Health, Environment, Finance and health boards and local authorities. The review group's report is nearing completion.
