Vol. 540 No. 2
32 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his plans to amend the existing rules in respect of supplementary welfare allowance rent supplement in order to allow lone parents and other low income families obtain work in the labour force without a loss of their rent supplement from the relevant health board. [19736/01]
Under the terms of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme payment of a weekly or monthly supplement may be made in respect of rent or mortgage interest to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards and neither I nor my Department has any function in deciding entitlement in individual cases.
Supplementary welfare allowance is subject to a means test and is not ordinarily payable to people in full-time employment. However, arrangements have been in place for some years now to enable rent or mortgage interest supplement recipients to retain their housing supplement as an in-work benefit on taking up employment, subject to a gross household income limit of £250 per week and certain other conditions. The conditions for retention of rent and mortgage interest supplements, including the income limits and the ceilings on the amounts payable, were reviewed in consultation with the social partners under Partnership 2000. The main objective was to address poverty and employment traps faced by people making the transition from unemployment to work.
Following those discussions, substantial improvements in the conditions for the retention of rent-mortgage interest supplement were introduced on 6 April 2000. The £250 per month limit on the amount of rent supplement payable was abolished and the sharp withdrawal of support at the end of the third year was removed, the supplement now being withdrawn on a tapered basis over a four year period, i.e., 75% in year one, 50% in year two, 25% in year three and 25% in year four. The conditions for receiving and retaining rent or mortgage interest supplement will be further examined as part of the review of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is currently being undertaken as part of my Department's series of formal programme evaluations.
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. One of the objectives of the new scheme will be to ensure that a full range of housing options is available to people with long-term housing needs, including those who are renting in the private rented sector and who currently rely on supplementary welfare allowance, rent supplement. In that regard, I understand that my colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, will be bringing detailed proposals to Government shortly.
Will the Minister recognise that many lone parents are finding it virtually impossible to get back to work given that if their income goes over a certain threshold they automatically lose part of their SWA rent allowance? Will he ensure people are informed that such a situation may exist before they apply for the job? Will he also give an undertaking that whatever measures are brought forward by the Government to assist these people in terms of additional rent assistance, they will be brought forward speedily and that the current transfer from the health boards to local governments throughout the country is one of the reasons the scheme has not been successful?
I do not accept that the scheme has not been successful because it is and has worked well. As I said previously, while the number of recipients has not increased dramatically in recent years, the amount of money has, obviously because of the increase in rents. As a result of trying to get lone parents in particular into work and take away some of the disincentives in that regard, I introduced the fairly major change of abolishing the limit of £250 and increased the tapering. This has big advantages. Obviously there will be situations whereby the more people earn the more they will lose out, which will always be the case.
I will continue to monitor this aspect but, as far as I am concerned, the changes I made in April 2000 have worked reasonably well.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
