The person concerned is in receipt of one parent family payment from my Department. She is also in contact with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, which, as the Deputy will know, is funded by my Department. In addition, she has received assistance in the form of exceptional needs payments from her local community welfare officer under the terms of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. She has requested additional assistance with meeting mortgage costs but has been found to be not entitled to this under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. That scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards and neither I nor my Department have any function in deciding entitlement in individual cases.
Supplementary welfare allowance is subject to a means test. Mortgage interest supplements are normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of mortgage interest, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to their family circumstances, less €7.62. This €7.62 represents the minimum contribution which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. Many recipients pay more than €7.62 towards their mortgage interest because applicants are required to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate basic supplementary welfare allowance rate towards their mortgage interest costs.