Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
Gay Mitchell
Question:
12
Mr. G. Mitchell
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the percentage of those in receipt of a lone person's allowance who are in receipt of maintenance payments from the other parent; and the attempts, if any, made to pursue this issue.
[1873/00]
There were 83,760 lone parent claims in payment at the end of December 1999. These include separated or unmarried persons in receipt of one-parent family payment which was introduced in 1997, and persons still receiving payment under the former lone parents allowance or deserted wife's benefit and allowance.
Under social welfare legislation, applicants for one-parent family payment are required to make ongoing efforts to seek adequate maintenance from their former spouse, or the parent of their child in the case of unmarried applicants. Normally, such maintenance is obtained by way of informal negotiation or by court order under family law, though separated couples are increasingly using the family mediation service for which my Department is now responsible and which is being progressively extended countrywide.
It is not possible to say how many persons in receipt of one-parent family payment are also in receipt of maintenance from the other parent. In cases where clients have income both from maintenance and employment, separate summary records are not available of the maintenance element of the means. In addition, in a significant number of cases maintenance may be in payment to the clients concerned which is disregarded for means assessment purposes. Such disregards apply particularly in the case of housing costs, where maintenance payments of up to £75 per week received by one-parent families can be disregarded where they are paying rent or mortgage in respect of their family homes. Statistics are not kept by my Department of the number of cases or of the amount of maintenance disregarded in this way.
Under the provisions of the Social Welfare Acts, a person has a legal responsibility to support his/her spouse and dependent children. Where social welfare support is being provided to the one-parent family, the other parent is legally liable to contribute to the cost of the payment. In implementing these provisions to date the Department has concentrated on those cases where the "liable relatives" concerned, being in employment or self-employment, appear to be in a financial position to make a contribution towards the relevant benefit or allowance being paid by the Department to their families.
The process of securing maintenance from liable relatives has proved to be difficult and protracted. However, more than £3 million has been collected from some 537 liable relatives to date through this system.
My Department continues to examine all potential cases with a view to securing maintenance, particularly in relation to those who are defaulting on their maintenance contribution obligations. Legislation allows the Department to seek recovery from liable relatives through the courts in appropriate cases, and a number of cases are now in the course of preparation for court action.
I should add that as part of its ongoing process of expenditure reviews my Department is carrying out a review of the one-parent family payment including,inter alia, the treatment of maintenance and the operation of the liable relative system. It is expected that this review will be completed within the next three months.
Austin Currie
Question:
13
Mr. Currie
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the fuel allowance payable to pensioners as at 1 December for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[27088/99]
John Perry
Question:
125
Mr. Perry
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the plans, if any, he has to increase the free fuel allowance in view of the increase in the cost of heating; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[2063/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 125 together.
The rate of payment of the fuel allowance at present and in each of the last five years was £5 per week – £8 per week in smokeless zones. The allowance is paid to eligible households for 26 weeks from mid-October to mid-April.
The aim of the national and smokeless fuel schemes is to assist householders who are on long-term social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs. The schemes were reviewed in 1998 as part of my Department's series of programme evaluations. The review group took the view that improvements in the fuel allowance payment rate cannot be looked at in isolation from the improvements in the primary weekly payment rates. The group concluded that the present rates of payment should remain unchanged if improvements in primary payment rates fully compensated recipients for all price inflation, including fuel price inflation. In that regard, domestic fuel prices have increased by less than 10% over the last 15 years.
Substantial increases in all the social welfare primary payments of either £3 or £6 per week were paid from June 1999 and the further increases of either £4 or £7 per week announced in the recent budget will come into effect from May this year.
Fuel allowances are not the sole mechanism through which assistance is provided to people with heating needs.
There is a facility available through the supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, scheme to assist people in certain circumstances who have special heating needs. An application for a heating supplement may be made by contacting the community welfare officer at the local health centre.
Where a person would not normally qualify for a heating supplement there is provision under the SWA scheme to pay an exceptional needs payment, ENP. ENPs are payable at the discretion of the health board taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case.
David Stanton
Question:
14
Mr. Stanton
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the supports, if any, available to widows or widowers over 60 years of age who do not qualify for an old age pension and whose spouse, prior to death, did not qualify for an old age pension; the plans, if any, he has to improve supports available to these people; the number of these people availing of a widow's or widower's pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1877/00]
At the end of 1999 there were 80,595 people aged 60 and over in receipt of the widow or widower's contributory pension while a further 16,686 in the same age range were receiving the widow or widower's non-contributory pension. There was also a small number receiving the one-parent family payment.
The widow or widower's pension schemes, which are not age related, recognise the particular financial difficulties that arise for people following the death of a spouse.
The qualifying conditions for the widow or widower's contributory pension scheme are more flexible than those applying to the old age and retirement pensions. Widowed people can qualify by using either their own or their late spouse's social insurance record. In addition, a person may also use the full social insurance record or the record over the previous three or five years.
As I indicated in my budget speech, and following the review of the Action Programme for the Millennium, this Government is committed to extending a pension rate of £100 per week to all social welfare old age pensioners. In this regard, from May 2000, the weekly rate of the widow or widower's contributory pension will increase to £89.10 per week for those aged over 66. The maximum rate for a person aged under 66 years will be £81.10. A widow's and widower's non-contributory pension is available to those, without children, who do not qualify for the contributory pension. This is payable subject to a means test. From May 2000 the maximum rate of the widow or widower's non-contributory pension will be £85.50 per week for those over 66 and £77.50 for those aged under 66.
Title to these pensions also gives access to the free schemes, where the person is over 66 years of age. In this context, special measures are in place to ensure that households do not suffer the loss of entitlements following the death of a spouse. Widows or widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of the free schemes retain that entitlement. Following the recent budget, the free schemes will be extended to all persons aged over 75 years of age regardless of income and household composition.
Widows and widowers with children who do not qualify for a widow or widower's contributory pension can qualify for the one-parent family payment. The rate of the one-parent family payment will be £85.50 per week for those over 66 with effect from May 2000 for those aged under 66 the rate will be £77.50. It is available to both men and women who are parenting alone and is designed to, firstly, provide basic income support, taking into account the special needs and requirements of single parents and, secondly, to encourage lone parents to return to the workforce so that, over time, they can achieve a greater degree of economic independence. To this end, an earnings disregard of £115.38 per week is available under the one-parent family payment means test to those lone parents in employment.
I announced a widowed parent's grant of £1,000 in the recent budget to provide additional support for those with dependent children in the immediate aftermath of a bereavement who qualify for a widow/er's contributory pension, one-parent family payment or a bereavement grant. The grant is expected to benefit about 1,500 widowed people each year. In the 1999 budget I introduced the bereavement grant which increased the payment on the death of an insured person to £500. This payment benefited almost 17,000 people last year.
As I indicated in an earlier reply to the Deputy I will be introducing a number of measures in the forthcoming Social Welfare Bill to address the position where the six weeks after death payment is not currently made or is paid at a reduced rate.
The improvements set out above are of specific benefit to widowed people. The position with regard to any further changes will be kept under review.
