Vol. 470 No. 4
240 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason back-to-school grants from his Department have been withdrawn in 1996 from children in receipt of orphan's allowance whose foster parents are on social welfare and in receipt of back-to-school payments for their other children and who in previous years received this grant for all children, including children on orphan's allowance. [19036/96]
The conditions for receipt of the back to school clothing and footwear allowance has always excluded orphans. The scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards, is designed to assist certain recipients of social welfare and health board payments with the cost of children's school uniforms and footwear. Certain people on low incomes who are in receipt of family income supplement may also qualify for assistance.
In order to qualify for the allowance, the claim must be in respect of a qualified child, the applicant must be in receipt of a qualifying payment, and, they must satisfy a specified means test. A qualified child is one which falls into one of the age groups specified for the scheme and in respect of whom a child dependant allowance is payable.
The means test takes account of any income over and above the appropriate rate of survivors (widows and widowers) contributory pension plus £5 where the guardian is single, and contributory old age pension plus £5 where the guardian is one of a couple. Where the income of a household exceeds these limits, the back to school clothing and footwear allowance is not payable.
Orphan's pension is not considered to be a qualifying payment under the terms of the back to school clothing and footwear scheme. The orphan's pension, which is a basic social welfare payment, is payable to the guardian and is intended to cover the child's cost of living, including food, clothing and footwear. Eligible applicants will receive either a contributory or non-contributory orphan's pension of up to £42.60 per week. In comparison, the allowance paid in respect of dependent children with other social welfare or health board payments is either £13.20 or £15.20 per week. The higher rate of orphan's pension as compared with the child dependant allowance rate means that the guardian receives an additional income of up to £1,528 per annum in respect of the orphaned child.
My Department issued guidelines relating to this scheme earlier this year setting out the main administrative changes for the scheme in 1996. The guidelines were issued with a view to achieving consistency and equity in the operation of the scheme across the health boards and to prepare for the computerisation of the scheme in 1997. Following the issue of these guidelines, it was realised by a health board which had previously made payments in respect of orphans, that orphans were not eligible for payment of the allowance as they did not fulfil the condition of having a child dependents allowance in payment and that a payment had been made in error in previous years. However, in all orphans cases where a need was established, an exceptional need payment was made in 1996 in respect of orphans for whom applications were received.
I am aware of anomalies in the scheme and have now initiated a review to address these issues. This review will be completed for the 1997 scheme.
