Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
John Perry
Question:
883
Mr. Perry
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he will intervene on behalf of a person (details supplied) and grant his back to education allowance appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1122/01]
The back to education allowance is a second chance educational opportunities scheme designed to encourage and facilitate certain groups who are receiving social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active work force.
To qualify for participation an applicant must be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment for at least six months and be at least 21 years of age, 18 years of age for people with disabilities, immediately prior to commencing the first year of an approved course of study.
The person concerned had already completed two years of a course of study when he applied for participation and, under the rules of the scheme, he is not eligible for the allowance. Had he applied at the commencement of his course he would not have been eligible for the allowance as he was under 21 years of age and not in receipt of an unemployment payment.
Seán Haughey
Question:
884
Mr. Haughey
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the measures he has taken since 1997 to improve the position of the elderly; his future proposals in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1123/01]
An Action Programme for the Millennium set a target old age pension rate of £100 by 2002. In the review of this programme, the Government committed to the early achievement of the £100 commitment and, furthermore, extended it to all social welfare old age pensions. We are well on the way to achieving this target with very significant increases granted over the last four budgets.
The improvements announced in Budget 2001 will see the old age contributory pension increase to £106.00 per week, the old age non-contributory pension increase to £95.50 per week and the widow(er)'s contributory pension for someone over 66 years of age increase to £102 per week. Overall increases since 1997 amount to between £18 and £28 per week or 36% to 43%.
As announced in Budget 2001, I intend to increase the payment for qualified adults, aged 66 or over, to same level as the personal rate of the old age non-contributory pension. This will be done over a number of budgets. The increase of £15 per week announced in the budget is the first step in this process.
This Government is committed to ensuring the widest possible coverage for contributory pensions. In recent years more and more flexibility has been introduced into the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory pension scheme including a reduction in the average number of contributions required for pension purposes to ten. Arrangements were also introduced to cater for particular groups who would not otherwise qualify for a pension.
A special old age contributory pension was introduced in April 1999 for those self employed people who were aged 56 or over in April 1988 when compulsory social insurance was introduced for this group. These could not satisfy the basic requirement of having entered insurance ten years before pension age. The pension is paid to those who have at least five year's contributions paid. Payment is at a flat-rate of 50% of the standard maximum rate with equivalent increases for adult and child dependants.
A special flat-rate old age contributory pension, payable at 50% of the maximum personal rate was introduced for any person who became insurably employed prior to 1953 and who, due to the yearly average rule, failed to qualify for pension or qualified for a pension at less than 50% of the standard maximum rate. To qualify, a person must have paid at least 260 contributions which may comprise all pre-53 contributions or a combination of pre and post 1953 insurance. The new pension is payable from May 2000.
Also in May 2000 I introduced significant improvements in the structure of the rates band under the old age contributory and retirement pensions which involved a reduction in the number of different rates payable. As a result all payments were reviewed and some 38,000 pensioners, who were on reduced rate old age contributory and retirement pensions saw their position improved.
New arrangements for the assessment of capital for non-contributory pensions were also introduced. The first £10,000 of capital is now completely disregarded. Capital between £10,000 and £20,000 is assessed on the basis of £1 weekly means for each £1,000 of capital; capital between £20,000 and £30,000 is assessed on the basis of £2 weekly means for each £1,000 of capital, and capital above £30,000 is assessed on the basis of £4 weekly means for each £1,000 of capital. These limits are doubled in the case of a married couple. Also from October 2000, tapering of the qualified adult allowance was extended to recipients of the old age contributory and retirement pensions, to allow for an income range for a qualified adult of between £70 and £135.
However, I recognise that more can be done in this area and in August 2000 I launched the report on Phase 1 of the review of the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory and retirement pensions. This report identified the key issues in relation to qualification conditions. It also sets out suggested guiding principles and outlines a framework for reform.
One of the recommendations involves a change in the qualification conditions from the current one based on average contributions to a system based on the total number of contributions paid-credited over a persons working life. This represents a very significant change in approach for overall pensions policy. However, I feel that such a system would be more transparent, simpler and more easily understood by the general public.
The report also recommended that the homemakers scheme, which is designed to help women who take time out of the paid workforce to care for children or sick relatives to qualify for a pension, be reviewed. Under the scheme, the time spent caring is disregarded when average contributions are being assessed for pension purposes. As outlined my budget speech, I am strongly committed to converting the existing system of disregards into homemaker credits. I also believe that, in principle, the homemaker's scheme, which currently only operates from 1994, must be backdated.
These issues will be considered in the context of the second phase of the review of the qualification conditions for pensions which will commence shortly.
Significant improvements have also been made in the area of the free schemes. In October 2000, the free schemes were extended to all people over 75 years of age regardless of their income or household composition. The qualifying age is being further reduced to 70 years of age with effect from May 2001. Free electricity allowance and free TV licence schemes were also extended to qualified carers, with effect from October 2000. Another improvement announced in this year's budget is that payments under the free fuel scheme have been increased from 26 weeks to 29 weeks. The current fuel season will be extended by two weeks in April 2001 and the next fuel season will start one week earlier in October 2001.
Seán Haughey
Question:
885
Mr. Haughey
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the measures being taken to improve the position of the married woman working full time in the home rearing children; his intentions in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1127/01]
Paul Connaughton
Question:
894
Mr. Connaughton
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
his views on whether the calculation of contributions for contributory old age pensions is fair and equitable in cases where pensioners had worked back as far as the 1950s and 1960s who then had a huge break in their insurable employment and returned to the system during the past ten years; his further views on whether the method of calculation of the reckonable contributions is unfair; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1444/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 885 and 894 together.
The Government is committed to ensuring the broadest possible contributory pension cover to as many categories of people as possible. Much has been done in recent years to make qualification for pensions easier, particularly for those with reduced or interrupted social insurance records. In particular the average number of contributions required for a pension was reduced to ten in 1997, a special reduced pension was introduced in 1999 for self employed people who were already over 56 when compulsory social insurance was introduced for this group in 1988, and in Budget 2000 more recognition was afforded to pre-1953 contributions to help people qualify for pensions who could not satisfy the average contributions test.
However, I recognise that more can be done in this area and in August 2000 I launched the report on Phase 1 of the review of the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory and retirement pensions which was undertaken by my Department. This report identified the key issues in relation to qualification conditions. It also sets out suggested guiding principles and outlines a framework for reform.
One of the recommendations involves a change in the qualification conditions from the current one based on average contributions to a system based on the total number of contributions paid-credited over a persons working life. This represents a very significant change in approach for overall pensions policy. However, I feel that such a system would be more transparent, simpler and more easily understood by the general public.
The report also examined the homemaker's scheme which was introduced in 1994. Under this scheme periods spent caring for children or disabled relatives can be disregarded when a person's PRSI record is being assessed for old age contributory-retirement pension purposes. The review proposed that, in principle, the disregard approach should be replaced with one based on credited contributions. The operative date of the homemaker's scheme was also examined and it was considered that there is no fundamental reason, in principle, why the homemaker provisions should only apply from 1994; however, there are significant cost and operational issues to be considered.
As outlined in my speech on the budget, I am strongly committed to implementing these proposals. Phase 2 of the review, which will get under way shortly, will consider the most appropriate way of achieving these. When implemented these measures should help many more people to qualify for pensions.
The above deals with the more long-term needs of people, particularly those who take time out of the workforce to care for children or sick relatives. However, this Government is also committed to supporting parents in rearing their children. To this end, we provided for increases in child benefit of £25 per month for the first two children and £30 for the third and subsequent children in Budget 2001. This is only the first of three years of increases which will see Government investment in the payment rise by £1 billion by 2003, that is almost a three fold increase. This means that by 2002, we will have exceeded the PPF commitment to move towards child benefit rates of £100 per month for third and subsequent children and delivered in full on our action programme commitment to put families at the centre of our policies.
Child benefit is normally payable to the mother, recognising the important value of the work done by the primary carer, who is usually the mother. The major improvements provided for in Budget 2001 will therefore strengthen the position of those who choose to work in the home and care for their children in that way, while simultaneously easing the burden for those who opt to work outside the home and use paid child care or informal child care arrangements.
Seán Haughey
Question:
886
Mr. Haughey
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the measures he has taken to improve the position of carers; his plans in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1130/01]
Michael Creed
Question:
899
Mr. Creed
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he has any proposals, in the context of the carer's allowance, to differentiate between provision of allowance for the care of elderly people in advanced years whose care requirement is largely dictated by virtue of their age and a carer's allowance for profoundly handicapped persons who require twenty four hour care from date of birth; and if, in this context, he will consider a significantly more generous means test in respect of the latter.
[1538/01]
Jan O'Sullivan
Question:
927
Ms O'Sullivan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he will consider including people in the carer's respite grant who qualify for carer's allowance but who do not opt to take this payment as they are in receipt of another social welfare payment which is more beneficial to them; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[2132/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 886, 899 and 927 together.
The carer's allowance is a means tested payment for carers on low income who look after people in need of full-time care and attention.
Government policy is strongly in favour of supporting care in the community and enabling people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. However, the State cannot, and would not wish to replace the personal support and care provided within the family and the community. Therefore, its primary role is to provide adequate support to carers and to those for whom they are caring, to enable them to remain in their own communities.
It was with this in mind that I have made a number of improvements to the carer's allowance scheme during my time in office, as follows. The carer's allowance has been increased by £28 per week (40%) for those over 66 and by £18 (26%) for those under 66 in the last four budgets. The increases announced in Budget 2001 will apply from April 2001. In addition carers in receipt of carer's allowance now qualify for the free schemes – a major additional benefit. The qualification conditions for carer's allowance have been significantly improved as follows: the residency qualifying conditions for carer's allowance have been relaxed. This has introduced greater flexibility into the scheme, while still safeguarding the needs and interests of the care recipients. This measure allows non-resident carers to be assessed on a case by case basis. The full-time care and attention rules were relaxed to allow carers to engage in part-time work, education or other activities. Carer's allowance was extended to children in receipt of domiciliary care allowance and to all people between 16 and 65 who require full-time care and attention. The means test has been greatly improved over a number of budgets. An income disregard of £125, in the case of a single carer, and £250 in the case of a married couple, will apply from April 2001.
This represents another move towards what I consider to be the optimum situation, which is that all carers, whose joint family income is at average industrial earnings, will qualify for carer's allowance at the maximum rate. An annual respite care grant was introduced in 1999 and this will be increased to £400 from June 2001. In addition, from June 2001, carers caring for more than one person will receive a double respite care grant of £800. A new carer's benefit scheme was introduced on 26 October 2000. This new scheme provides financial support for 15 months to a person who gives up employment to care full-time. As it is based on a person's PRSI contributions there is no means test. My colleague, Tom Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for Labour Affairs, is introducing carer's leave legislation to protect the employment rights of the carer during that 15 month period. The six weeks payment after death has been extended to carers whose spouse is not in receipt of a social welfare payment. The back to work allowance, back to education allowance and community employment scheme have been extended to carers when they cease caring. A project to examine issues relating to long-term care, both in terms of cost and possible partnership approaches and the possible role of the PRSI system in this regard has commenced.
It is expected that this study will be completed by the middle of this year.
The many improvements I have introduced during the last four years have resulted in a large growth in expenditure on carer's allowance, from £36.5 million in 1997 to a projected £108.4 million this year, representing an increase of 197%.
This has had a substantial impact on the number of people in receipt of carer's allowance, which has increased by more than 115 per cent since 1997 and now stands at almost 16,500. It is estimated that the recent increase in the means disregards will qualify an additional 5,000 carers for payment. These figures are a true reflection of the concern and commitment this Government has for carers and the appreciation we have for their valuable role in our society.
Regarding the issue of paying the respite care grant with another social welfare pension, this grant is payable to all carers in receipt of carer's allowance and to carers who are caring for recipients of a constant attendance or prescribed rela tives allowance to use in whatever way they choose. It is not possible to transfer additional benefits, such as the respite care grant between social welfare payments. However, a person qualifying for two social welfare payments will always receive the payment most beneficial to him-her.
The review of the carer's allowance, which was published in October 1998, addressed the issues of differing care needs and it proposed the introduction of a non-means tested 'continual care' payment to recognise carers providing the highest levels of care and to promote care in the community. It envisaged that this payment would be made, irrespective of income or social welfare entitlement, to carers caring for those who are in the highest category of dependency.
To differentiate between the levels of care and care needs, the review considered that a needs assessment encompassing both the needs of the care recipient and the carer should be introduced, and that the 'continual care' payment could be introduced following the introduction of such an assessment. It was considered that a needs assessment would separate care needs from income support needs and could be used by all State organisations which provide reliefs or grants to those in need of care.
Establishing a pilot system of needs assessment for carers and people needing care was identified as a priority in the Government's review of its action programme. This area is the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Health and Children.
The many measures I have introduced for carers clearly indicate my personal commitment and that of the Government to carers and are a concrete expression of our appreciation for their valuable role in our society. Improvements have also been introduced by other Ministers covering their areas of responsibility and the position of carers in our society will be kept under review in a budgetary context across all relevant Departments in line with the Government's commitment to this group.
Seán Haughey
Question:
887
Mr. Haughey
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the measures he has taken to improve the position of widows; his plans in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1135/01]
In budget 2001 I announced increases of between £8 and £12.90 per week in the personal rates of various social welfare payments for widowed persons. From April 2001 the maximum rate of widow(er)'s contributory pension will be increased to £89.10 per week for a person under 66 years of age and to £102 for those over 66. The equivalent rates for the widow(er)'s non-contributory pension and the one-parent family payment will be £85.50 and £95.50 respectively. The Government is committed to the achievement of a rate of £100 per week for all pensions paid in respect of people over 66 years of age by 2002.
Child benefit will also increase from April 2001 by £25 per month for each of the first and second children and £30 per month for third and subsequent children. This will bring monthly child benefit payments to £67.50 and £86 respectively. These increases will be of major benefit to widows/ers with dependent children. In budget 2000 I also introduced a new scheme, the widowed parent's grant, to help with the special needs of this particular group in the immediate aftermath of a bereavement.
This involves the payment of a special grant of £1,000 to a widow/er with dependent children in addition to the usual bereavement grant of £500 and other after death payments.
Widow/ers will also benefit from changes I made in Budget 2001 in relation to the free schemes. Under the new arrangements all persons over 70 years of age will be entitled to the full range of schemes regardless of their means or household composition from May.
The position with regard to social welfare provision for widowed people will be kept under review in the context of overall budgetary considerations.
Michael Ring
Question:
888
Mr. Ring
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo did not receive the fuel allowance for 2000 or 2001.
[1252/01]
One of the conditions for receipt of a fuel allowance is that the claimant must be in receipt of a qualifying social security of health board payment.
As application for fuel allowance from the person concerned was refused in March 1999 on the basis that she was not receiving a qualifying payment for the purpose of this allowance. She remains ineligible to receive the fuel allowance on the basis that she is not receiving a qualifying payment.
