Vol. 504 No. 3
79 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will confirm a system of tapered withdrawal of the adult dependence allowance for pensioners who suffer total loss of this when the earnings of a spouse exceed £60 per week. [11809/99]
The Deputy will be aware that regulations were introduced in November 1997 to provide for the tapered withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance for people claiming unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance, disability benefit, disability allowance, pre-retirement allowance, injury benefit and unemployability supplement.
This represented the first step towards alleviating the poverty trap associated with the complete withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance once the earnings of the spouse or partner of the social welfare claimant exceeded £60 per week. Priority was given to those schemes where disincentives to employment are most prevalent.
Under the revised arrangements, where the spouse or partner is earning between £60 and £90, a reduced rate qualified adult allowance continues to be payable. In the 1999 budget, provision has been made to extend the upper limit of the income range from £90 to £105 from October next, in order to further enhance the incentive for people to avail of employment opportunities. The question of extending these arrangements to cover other categories of welfare claimants, including pensioners, is a matter which will arise for consideration in a budgetary context.
80 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the reason the back to work scheme has not been extended to a person (details supplied) in Cork who applied for it in August 1998, was refused on the grounds that he had commenced work before he had applied and is presently working with the same employer. [11838/99]
The objective of the back to work allowance scheme is to give an incentive to long-term unemployed persons who, in the absence of the scheme, would not be in a position to take up a job.
The scheme has a limited number of places and is targeted at people who need an additional incentive to return to the workforce. It is, therefore, a requirement of the scheme that an application must be made prior to taking up employment.
The person concerned commenced employment on 27 July 1998. He applied for the allowance on 21 October 1998. Under the rules of the scheme his application was refused as the claim was late and that he was in a position to return to the workforce without the need for the financial incentive which the scheme provides. There were no circumstances in this case which would justify any revision of this decision.
