Róisín Shortall
Question:200 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the way in which diet allowance is calculated and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5724/00]
Written Answers. - Supplementary Welfare Scheme.
Recipients of social welfare or health board payments who have been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition and whose means are insufficient to meet their needs, may qualify for a diet supplement under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme – SWA.
Entitlement to a diet supplement is determined by the health boards in accordance with the legislative provisions which specify the medical conditions in respect of which a diet supplement may be paid and the means test which must be applied. The amount of supplement payable depends on which of two categories of diet has been prescribed by the applicant's medical advisor, the age of the person and on the income of the individual and his-her dependants.
The present basis for calculating the amount of diet supplement payable in any individual case was put in place in 1996. The various types of prescribed diets are grouped into two categories, one comprising lower cost diets and the other comprising higher cost diets.
For the purposes of calculating the rate of diet supplement payable, the lower cost diets were deemed to cost £27 per week and the higher cost diets were deemed to cost £35 per week. In the case of single people, the amount payable was calculated on the basis that one third of their income is spent on food. Where the applicant is one of a couple, the amount payable was calculated on the basis that one sixth of the couple's joint income is spent on the diet supplement applicant's food.
In the case of a lower cost diet, the amount of diet supplement payable is £27 less one third of the applicant's income, one sixth in the case of a couple. In the case of a higher cost diet, the amount of diet supplement payable is £35 less one third of the applicant's income – one sixth in the case of a couple. Increases in weekly social welfare payment rates since 1996 are disregarded for the purposes of this means test as they would have the effect of reducing the rate of diet supplement payable in all cases and would eliminate entitlement altogether in many cases.
In the case of children under the age of 18 there is a standard rate of £8 per week for a higher cost diet and £5 per week for a lower cost diet. In the case of persons with dependent children the child dependants' allowance is not assessed.
The SWA scheme is being reviewed as part of my Department's series of programme evaluations and a fundamental examination of the diet supplement will be undertaken in this context.