Vol. 460 No. 3
23 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Social Welfare the nature of all significant changes in the administration of the disabled person's maintenance allowance which have been implemented since the transfer of the allowance from the Department of Health; the status of his review of the scheme; and his intention in relation to the scheme over the next 12 months. [1229/96]
In August 1995, responsibility for the funding of the disabled person's maintenance allowance scheme was transferred from the Department of Health to my Department. The necessary legislative provisions for the transfer of responsibility for the administration of the scheme to my Department will be included in the Social Welfare Bill, 1996 and the transfer will be effected as soon as the necessary administrative arrangements are put in place. My priority is to secure a smooth transfer of the scheme and, in doing so, to maintain and, hopefully improve, the quality of service to recipients.
On completion of the transfer I will be examining all aspects of the disabled person's maintenance allowance scheme to see what changes are necessary or warranted. In this context I will take account of any recommendations emerging from the work of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities and from discussions with organisations representing people with disabilities. I intend to address such issues as soon as the scheme has been transferred and as soon as I have had an opportunity to see how it is operating in practice. In the meanwhile, however, I propose to provide for certain improvements in the existing conditions for entitlement to disabled person's maintenance allowance, particularly in so far as the provision for the assessment of means are concerned. These improvements will be provided for in the Social Welfare Bill, 1996, which I expect to publish at the beginning of March.
Will the Minister say when real progress will be made on the review of the disabled person's maintenance allowance scheme since its beneficiaries have been awaiting such improvement for a long time?
In the transfer of the administration of the scheme from the Department of Health to the Department of Social Welfare it is most important to ensure that those at present in receipt of disabled person's maintenance allowance continue to receive that weekly allowance on time. That is not an easy task given that it involves the transfer of the records of eight health boards to my Department's systems, all of which have to be amalgamated. We must ensure that every single beneficiary is accounted for and, since we are talking about the delivery of expenditure in excess of £100 million annually among 30,938 recipients, the Deputy will readily understand it is not a task which can be carried out overnight. A working group is examining all aspects of how that transfer can be done effectively and efficiently and all our efforts are geared to that purpose. As soon as we have that running smoothly we will have an opportunity to ascertain how the disabled person's maintenance allowance can be improved. As I already indicated, I will be introducing refinements in the means-testing of disabled person's maintenance allowance in the Social Welfare Bill, 1996.
Being aware that a number of groups of people with disability have been in touch with the Minister with regard to a disability allowance, what is the Minister's attitude to it? Is that one of the improvements he envisages bearing in mind that 80 per cent of people with disability are unemployed; indeed, whether employed or unemployed, they incur extra costs for food, accommodation and transport? If such disabled people are to be enabled to avail of employment in the workplace one of the main incentives would be their entitlement to a disability allowance. Does the Minister intend granting such allowance among the improvements he has in mind?
I have already indicated to the House I am conscious that, while my Department administers a disability benefit scheme — which provides income to people during illness preventing them from working — it does not administer a disability allowance scheme not based on contributions, whereas disability benefit is available only to applicants with a certain number of contributions and credits. There have been suggestions to the effect that the disabled person's maintenance allowance could form the basis of a disability allowance scheme which I am prepared to examine. I will be examining the recommendations from the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities in addition to representations from other organisations before deciding what route we should take in improving the disabled person's maintenance allowance.
Will the Minister agree that, while the concept of a disability allowance is a good one, its retention when in employment is an even better one? Will he agree also that, whether a disabled person is employed or unemployed he or she incurs extra costs for additional daily food, accommodation and transport which this allowance would cover? Can we give the 80 per cent of unemployed disabled people some incentive to seek employment in the workplace knowing that, in that event, they will retain such disability allowance?
I know that people with disabilities, particularly those in receipt of disabled person's maintenance allowance, object to the contention that their income is regarded as some type of "health income", that because of their disability, they are regarded as being unhealthy, since many of them would consider themselves to be as healthy as any other person without an obvious physical disability. For that reason they argue they should be eligible for unemployment assistance in the same way as others. There are complex issues involved in the integration of the disabled person's maintenance allowance into the general system of allowances administered by my Department. I know there is general welcome on the part of organisations representing people with disabilities for the transference of the scheme from the Department of Health to my Department. They perceive that as an abandonment of the view that disabled people present a "health" problem; rather that they will be treated as ordinary individuals who happen to have a disability. I reiterate my priority is to ensure that the administration of the scheme is transferred to my Department in a manner that will ensure, the day after transfer has been effected, that no beneficiary will miss a cheque because of inefficiency. As soon as the transferred scheme is working smoothly, the staff at present engaged in that type of operation can begin to ascertain how the system itself can be improved. That will not be achieved overnight or solely on the basis of an internal departmental review. We will be listening to the views of those who represent people with disabilities and examining the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities. We will consult widely, including discussing the point Deputy Wallace made, that people with disability do incur additional living and transport costs. At this point I am not prepared to indicate what direction we may go because all these matters need to be examined in detail. However, I am determined that the system will be improved.
There is no point in the Minister replying about an unemployment or disability allowance which ceases whenever a beneficiary obtains a job. I am referring to the cost of disability allowance. Irrespective of whether people with disabilities have a job, they should be entitled to that allowance. I call on the Minister to adopt that thinking. Replying in terms of an unemployment allowance or disability allowance is not adopting desirable thinking in terms of the cost of disability allowance. It would be helpful if the Department were to carry out research into the cost of disability and that issue were addressed in line with the Minister's reviews of the disabled person's maintenance allowance.
I have already indicated to the Deputy that those are the issues we intend to look at and on which we intend to consult the representative organisations. I have no doubt that the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities will address this issue also. We will take account of the views expressed by them and their recommendations. Any decisions in this area must have regard to the resources available to my Department to implement desirable changes.
Addressing the issue of the cost of disability should ensure that people with disabilities will be able to secure employment, make a contribution in the workplace and a return to the State in terms of PAYE and PRSI contributions. Assistance should be given to people to meet the cost of their disabilities and to ensure that it is worth their while to take up employment. At present 80 per cent of people with disabilities are unemployed mainly due to the fact that if they take up employment they will lose their disability allowance. The cost of disability must be addressed to ensure that people with disabilities are encouraged to take up employment.
In view of the short time devoted to social welfare questions today, I ask that the remaining questions in the names of Fianna Fáil Deputies be retained on the Order Paper.
The Deputy will be facilitated in that regard.
