Vol. 517 No. 6
101 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will address concerns among community welfare officers regarding recent changes in the administration of the supplementary welfare allowance in view of the need for discretionary payments for urgent family emergencies. [10546/00]
There have been no recent changes in the administration of the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme affecting discretionary payments for urgent family emergencies. These exceptional needs payments (ENPs) and urgent needs payments (UNPs) continue to made on the same basis as heretofore and I have no plans to change the current arrangements.
As the Deputy will be aware, I have made provision in the Social Welfare Act, 2000, to allow my Department to make certain SWA payments in cases where the person concerned is already being dealt with by my Department and where it is appropriate to do so. This may happen, for example, where a person claims unemployment assistance, they have insufficient or no income to meet their basic needs but unemployment assistance cannot be put into payment immediately. The provisions of the Act will enable my Department to make SWA payments in such cases, thus avoiding the necessity for the people concerned to make their case "in duplicate" at the health board office when they will have already provided all the relevant details to my Department.
