Under the provisions of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, a weekly supplement may be paid in respect of mortgage interest to people in receipt of social welfare or health board payments. The relevant legislation provides that a person may be entitled to a mortgage interest supplement only if the loan agreement was entered into at a time when, in the opinion of the health board, the claimant was in a position to meet the repayments.
Cases where a guarantor or parent is attached to the mortgage to give a greater loan than would normally be allowed are assessed on an individual basis. If the health board was satisfied the person taking out the mortgage could meet the repayments at the time the loan agreement was entered into, a mortgage interest supplement may be payable. However, if the amount of the mortgage is substantially higher than would normally be provided to a person at that income level and if there are no grounds to justify this other than the fact they had a guarantor, a mortgage interest supplement would not be payable on the grounds they were not in a position to meet the repayments in their own right at the time the loan agreement was entered into. There has been no policy change in this regard.