Michael Ring
Question:218 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs when arrears of carer's allowance will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [3545/01]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
The person concerned applied for a carer's allowance on 26 May 2000. At the time of her application she was a qualified adult on her spouse's back to work allowance. She was awarded a personal rate carer's allowance of £14.50 per week with an increase of £33 per week child dependant allowance, with effect from 1 June 2000. She has decided, however, to remain as a qualified adult on her spouse's back to work allowance as this is financially more beneficial to her. Arrangements are being made to reinstate this entitlement and any arrears due in respect of qualified adult allowance will issue shortly to her.
Arising from the improvements I have introduced to the carer's allowance means test in the context of budget 2001, the person concerned will qualify for a personal rate of carer's allowance amounting to £64.50 per week and £33 dependant child allowance with effect from 5 April 2001. From this date, carer's allowance will be payable to her from that date as it will be financially more beneficial to her.
Michael D. Higgins
Question:219 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) in County Galway only received £8.90 rent allowance; if his disability allowance has been taken into account; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3563/01]
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 neither I nor the Department have any 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.
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.
The person concerned has a total weekly income of £101.10 – Department of Social Security pension of £59.60 plus a reduced disability allowance payment of £41.50. The SWA rate for a single person is currently £76 per week. The person, therefore, has weekly means of £25.10 in excess of the SWA rate which they are required to contribute towards their rent in addition to the £6 minimum contribution. The total contribution which must be made towards rent is £31.10 per week – £25.10 plus £6. While the person has a weekly rent of £50, the maximum rent payable for a single person in shared accommodation in the Western Health Board area is £40 per week. The person is, therefore, in receipt of the appropriate weekly rent supplement of £8.90 – £40 less personal contribution of £31.10.
Richard Bruton
Question:220 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he has received submissions from carers who were forced to give up work before carer's benefit was introduced and who appear to be excluded entirely from its scope since they did not apply for leave of absence; and if he will consider extending 15 months carer's benefit claim to all those who gave up work in the past five years in order to take up caring. [3622/01]
The carer's benefit scheme is intended to support people who must leave the workforce temporarily to care for someone who is in need of full-time care and attention. The scheme involves two central elements. The first is a weekly income support payment which is operated and paid by my Department. This is based on PRSI contributions paid by the carer. The second is the protection of the carer's employment rights for the duration of the caring period, which is a key feature of the scheme. Legislation to guarantee these rights has been brought forward by my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for labour affairs, Deputy Tom Kitt, and is currently being debated in this House.
In order to qualify for carer's benefit, all of the qualifying conditions must be satisfied on or after 26 October 2000. This also applies to the condition that the applicant must have been in remunerative employment for the previous three month period on a full-time basis. As is the case in all new schemes, certain people may have qualified if the scheme had been introduced at an earlier date. It is difficult to decide on past entitlements in these type of cases.
However, my Department has introduced some flexibility to facilitate those employees who had already left the workplace before the commencement date. In this regard, employees who were on annual leave, maternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave or term-time leave immediately prior to their application will be eligible for carer's benefit and the three month remunerative employment period to be assessed will be the period prior to that leave.
In addition, carers who took special or compassionate leave or a career break prior to the introduction of the carer's benefit scheme for the purpose of caring and with the agreement of their employer, may apply for carer's benefit. Certification of the caring situation will be required from the carer's employer and the care recipient's doctor. In such cases, a maximum period of six months prior to the introduction of carer's benefit application will be disregarded and the three months prior to that six-month period will be assessed for the purposes of carer's benefit. I have received two letters regarding this issue since the scheme commenced.