Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
Seán Haughey
Question:
340
Mr. Haughey
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the position regarding social welfare benefits paid to sick or incapacitated people who wish to return to work; if he will pay these benefits for a period when the claimants are actually back at work in order to help and encourage them back to the workforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[5073/99]
My Department administers a range of payments for people who are ill and people with disabilities. Some of these payments are primarily designed to cater for people who are temporarily absent from employment due to illness, while other schemes cater for those who have more long-term or permanent incapacities and for people with disabilities. While there is a general rule that people who are temporarily absent from employment due to illness are not allowed to engage in work, it is nevertheless recognised that support and encouragement should be provided for people with disabilities and those with long-term incapacities to become more self-reliant and less dependent on the social welfare system by facilitating them in taking up available employment and training opportunities.
Considerable progress has been made in this regard in recent years. For instance, 1,000 places on the back-to-work allowance scheme have been designated for people with disabilities who are receiving disability allowance or blind person's pension. Participants on this scheme can retain their social welfare payments on a sliding scale for three years where they take up employment or for four years where they engage in self-employment Participants can also keep any additional benefits, such as the medical card, rent allowances, free travel, etc. The 1999 budget provides for the introduction from July 1999 of a special pilot scheme for the very long-term unemployed, i.e. those unemployed for five years or more. Under this pilot programme, participants will be placed with employers for a period of five or six weeks while continuing to receive their full social welfare entitlements, together with a special allowance of £25 per week towards travel and meal costs. At the end of the trial period, they can then proceed automatically on to the back-to-work allowance. This pilot programme will also be open to those who have been in receipt of disability allowance or blind person's pension for five years or more.
These measures, which complement the existing employment supports which are currently available through the National Rehabilitation Board and FÁS, are of particular importance to people with disabilities who can access the open labour market. However, it is recognised that many people with disabilities are not in a position to engage in such employment. Accordingly, additional measures are required to facilitate people with disabilities so that they can engage in other forms of employment and training such as sheltered or rehabilitative employment. In this regard, a significant weekly income disregard of £50 is provided in the case of the disability allowance, blind person's pension and supplementary welfare allowance schemes where the person engages in rehabilitative employment.
In addition to the above measures, recipients of disability benefit are, with the prior approval of the Department, allowed to engage in part-time work which is of a rehabilitative or therapeautic nature or in occupational training courses. Invalidity pensioners are similarly allowed to engage in occupational training courses and in rehabilitative or therapeutic work on a full-time basis.
While there is a range of incentives currently available to facilitate people with disabilities and those with long-term incapacities in taking up available employment and training opportunities, it is nevertheless recognised that more needs to be done. In this regard, the potential for further enhancements to the system will continue to be examined in the light of the recommendations contained in the report of the commission on the status of people with disabilities and having regard to the available resources.
