Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
John V. Farrelly
Question:
54
Mr. Farrelly
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the situation with regard to the child dependant allowances; the cost to date in 2000; if he will introduce a standard rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[29672/00]
There are currently three different rates of child dependant allowances payable to social welfare recipients, ranging from £13.20 per week to £17.00 per week. The reasons for this are largely historical. There has been considerable rationalisation of rates over the year, in line with a recommendation made by the Commission on Social Welfare. The number of different rates has been reduced from 36 at the time the Commission reported in 1986, down to the current three.
Data relating to expenditure on child dependant allowances to date in 2000, is not readily available. However, it is estimated that the cost of child dependant allowances in a full-year presently amounts to £257 million. The introduction of a standard rate would be extremely costly; the full year cost of paying all child dependant allowances at the highest rate currently paid is estimated to be in the region of £49 million per annum.
The Deputy will be aware that the loss of child dependant allowances by social welfare recipients on taking up employment can act as a disincentive to taking up available work opportunities. The policy direction followed by successive Governments has, therefore, been to concentrate resources for child income support on child benefit. Unlike child dependant allowances, child benefit does not contribute to poverty traps or work disincentives, as it is a universal payment which is not subject to a means test.
The value of the child benefit scheme as an effective mechanism for the provision of child income support is reflected in the substantial investment which the Government makes in the scheme. Before we came to office, expenditure on child benefit was £397 million annually. Our first three budgets increased this to £575 million – an increase of more than 40%. The increases I announced in budget 2001 constitute a full-year investment of £330 million in the child benefit scheme. Moreover, this is only the first of three years of increases which will see investment in the payment rise by £1 billion by 2003, that is, almost a three fold increase. By the end of this period, the higher rate of child benefit will be £146 per month, and the lower rate will be £117.50. A family with four children will, in 2003, be receiving £120 per week in child benefit. The relative importance of child dependant allowances will clearly decline in the years ahead.
I believe that investment in the child benefit scheme is the correct approach and represents the most effective use of the resources available for child income support.
Question No. 55 taken with Question No. 36.
Question No. 56 taken with Question No. 30.
Question No. 57 taken with Question No. 42.
Róisín Shortall
Question:
58
Ms Shortall
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he will report on the progress to localise the administration of the one parent family payment.
[29717/00]
Austin Currie
Question:
63
Mr. Currie
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the average time taken to process an application for a one parent family allowance payment; if it is possible to reduce the waiting time; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[29679/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 63 together.
The one-parent family payment is a means tested payment which is intended to assist a lone parent who is bringing up a child or children without the support of a partner. In order to qualify for the one-parent family payment, an applicant must satisfy a number of statutory conditions. He or she must have the main care and charge of at least one child, must not be cohabiting, must, if earning, have gross earnings of less than £230.76 per week, equivalent to £12,000 per annum, and must satisfy a means test. In addition, in appropriate cases, it is necessary to establish that efforts have been made to obtain maintenance from the former spouse or partner before a payment can be put into effect.
My Department has as a priority obligation to provide the best possible service to claimants under the various schemes and to process new claims in the fastest possible times. Over the past 12 months, the average number of weeks to decide a claim was 10.1 weeks in the case of claims from unmarried claimants and 12.8 weeks in the case of claims from separated claimants.
The number of new one-parent family payments claims is currently averaging around 18,000 per annum – equivalent to about 350 per week. There have been significant improvements in the earnings exemptions for lone parents and, due to the relatively young age-profile of this group, they are more likely to move in and out of employment, education or training on a regular basis. Approximately 52,000 existing cases will have to be reviewed at the clients' instigation this year.
A number of developments are under way to address this situation. My Department is engaged in a review of its administrative staffing requirements and work priorities in its pension services office – where the one-parent family payment scheme is administered – to reflect the growing new claim and workload generally there.
Furthermore, and following on from the review of the one-parent family payment which was published in September 2000, it is intended to devolve the administration of the one-parent family payment to the Department's network of local offices around the country. This is aimed primarily at making it more accessible to lone parents. It will also be of value in helping lone parents to access information about employment, education and training opportunities in their own area, through my Department's local employment support services. I expect that this devolution of administration will also assist in reducing claim processing times through closer linkage with the local investigative officer network.
A working group has been set up in my Department to oversee the arrangements that must be put in place to effect the transfer of OFP claims processing to the Department's network of local offices. As a first step, it is proposed to initiate a pilot project for processing new claims in the Dublin west area early in the new year. This pilot will help to identify any issues or problems arising form localisation and allow for these to be addressed before extending localisation to other local offices.
A large majority of one-parent family payment applicants are in receipt of another social welfare payment while their claim is being processed. The main form of such support is supplementary welfare allowance or unemployment assistance while some would be in receipt of maternity benefit, unemployment benefit or disability benefit. This does not, of course, obviate the need to provide an efficient, and speedy claim processing service to one-parent family payment applicants. I believe that the measures now being planned will bring about a measurable improvement in the quality and timeliness of service to one-parent family payment applicants in the future.
Phil Hogan
Question:
59
Mr. Hogan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he envisages any changes to the rent allowance scheme; the cost to date in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[29670/00]
The supplementary welfare allowance scheme provides for a weekly or monthly supplement to be paid in respect of rent to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. The scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards and my Department has no function in deciding entitlement in individual cases.
The purpose of rent supplements is to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible persons living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source.
Expenditure on rent supplements up to 1 December 2000 was approximately £109.3 million. It is estimated that expenditure for the whole of 2000 will be in the region of £118.4 million.
Rent supplements are normally calculated to ensure that the person, after the payment of rent has an income equal to the supplementary welfare allowance basic weekly payment rate, less £6. This £6 represents the minimum contribution which recipients are required to pay from their own resources.
In addition to the minimum contribution, all applicants, including pensioners, are required to contribute any assessable means in excess of the appropriate basic SWA rate towards their rent.
In this year's budget, I have eased the means test for pensioners aged 66 years and over who are dependent on rent or mortgage interest supplement. From April 2001 the first £5 of budget increases will not affect the amount of rent or mortgage supplement payable to these people. This improvement will also apply to invalidity and retirement pensioners who are over 65 years.
Another improvement announced in the budget was an increase of £10 in the maximum rate of rent supplement for tenants under the capital assistance scheme. The maximum rate for a single person has increased from £19 to £29 per week for single people and from £21 to £31 for others. These changes will come into effect in April 2001.
As the Deputy may be aware, the Government has decided in principle to introduce a new scheme of private sector rent assistance. The new scheme will be operated by the local authorities and will help to ensure that the best possible housing options are made available to people with long-term housing needs who currently rely on supplementary welfare allowance rent supplement.
The Department of Environment and Local Government are currently setting up pilot schemes in nine local authorities to provide rental accommodation in the private sector for people who would otherwise rely on SWA rent supplement. Under this proposal the local authorities will lease suitable property from property owners and offer tenancies in those properties to people on their housing lists who are also on SWA rent supplement. The tenant will pay rent to the local authority on the same basis as other council tenants.
In addition, a review of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme is currently under way. All aspects of the scheme will be examined, including the arrangements governing payment of rent supplements to people on social welfare incomes. The report is due at the end of next year. I believe that these initiatives will lead to substantial improvements for people on social welfare incomes who are renting in the private sector.
Question No. 60 taken with Question No. 30.
