Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire
Question:49. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection to outline the next steps in the consultation on the Green Paper on disability allowance. [46769/23]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Social Welfare Schemes
The Minister's recent Green Paper on disability allowance has been published. It envisages radical changes to the approach being taken. It is fair to say that some people have expressed concerns about the changes. I appreciate that consultation is still ongoing, but there are certainly cautionary tales from other jurisdictions that we need to be very much aware of. This question is an opportunity for the Minister to tell us where the process is going. What will happen after people make their submissions? I certainly will make one.
I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for raising this matter.
The Government committed as part of the roadmap for social inclusion to develop and consult on proposals to restructure long-term disability payments and to simplify the system. The consultation process has begun through the publication of the Green Paper. The Green Paper sets out the issues facing people with disabilities. Those issues include high levels of unemployment and poverty and a complex system of payments that has evolved over decades. In addition, and in order to encourage ideas and debate, the Green Paper sets out one possible approach as to how the system might be reformed, both to increase the level of payments and to improve employment outcomes.
I emphasise that nobody will have his or her payment reduced, nor will anybody lose his or her entitlement to a disability payment. Those who read the paper will see that, in fact, it proposes that payments will be increased, in some cases by over €45 per week.
I emphasise also that the Green Paper is a consultation document. It is not a final reform design. The paper is for the purpose of inviting discussion, debate and suggestions.
I am very mindful of our commitment under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCPRD, to consult closely with and actively involve disabled people and their representative groups on changes that will impact them. That is why I launched the Green Paper and a wide-scale public consultation on 20 September, when I met a number of stakeholder organisations as part of a briefing session. I also held a consultation event with stakeholders on 18 October. A number of further public consultation events will take place in Dublin Castle on 9 November, in Cork on 14 November and in Athlone on 23 November. Those events are open to disability groups, disabled persons' organisations and members of the public. Invitations will be shared with over 100 organisations. Depending on demand, my officials are happy to add more locations and more consultation events to this event series. In addition, individuals and groups are welcome to make submissions until 15 December. We have already received 120 submissions from individuals.
As the Minister will be aware, a very large number of people will be affected by this. Some 225,000 people receive these payments, 150,000 on disability allowance and about 75,000 on the other payments.
If I were to think of a single phrase that I think concerns people - the specific phrase belongs to the approach that was taken in Britain - it would be "work capability assessment". I think the Minister's Department uses a different phrase, but the former phrase would send a chill down the back of the neck of anybody with disabilities who is familiar, or anyone at all who is familiar, with the regime that existed in Britain. It is an approach that led to people being classed as fit to work who were simply not or who were grievously ill and forced them into hardship. It is an approach that very much suggested that there were targets to be reached to try to reduce the number of people on disability allowance. It is vital we do not pursue any approach that involves that kind of assessment or forces people into unsuitable work, cuts them off and puts them into hardship, as happened in many instances in Britain.
I am glad the Deputy raised that because I agree with him. This has nothing to do with the UK system. Cutting costs was what they were doing in the UK. That is not the case here. This is about trying to increase people's payments. In fact, based on a conservative estimate, the Green Paper measures, if introduced, would cost in excess of €130 million extra per year.
It is well documented that people with disabilities face additional costs, and Ireland's employment rate for people with disabilities is below the EU average. The question is whether we keep doing what we are doing and expect a different result or whether we actually try to improve the system for people with disabilities. The fact is that there has been no reform to disability payments for decades. We have a wide range of different schemes, including disability allowance, blind pension and invalidity pension. Even the name "invalidity pension" is not great terminology to use in this day and age.
I think there is sometimes a lack of awareness of the partial capacity element of things and a difficulty in transitioning between invalidity and partial capacity payments. That is maybe another day's work but it might be an interim issue that could be raised. I hear the Minister say that cutting costs will not be a part of this. I will hold her to that. That is vital. It cannot be about cutting costs. There are obstacles to people with disabilities entering work; there is no question about that. As regards the rates of employment, there are many disabled people who want to work but who are not in a position to do so. There are also, however, many who are worried at the minute that they could be pushed into employment that is not suitable for them or pushed into employment when they are not capable of employment. That is the bottom line that has to be watched in this regard. I will hold the Minister to that.
I will ask an additional question. As regards the supports that would be available, does the Minister anticipate that there would ever be withdrawal of payments from people who are not successful following those supports in achieving work?
To be clear, there is no question of anybody having his or her payment decreased. My objective here is actually to increase payments, not decrease them. This is a difficult and very sensitive area, and I reassure people that there is no intention to cut anybody's payment or to cut people off payments. That is not the intention. What I am doing is putting out very clearly in the Green Paper an opportunity to have an honest and frank discussion. I am happy to engage with the stakeholders. I have already had two meetings with them. There will be further meetings across the country. I am happy to take people's views on board. Then, when we have collated all that information, we can sit down and look at it. I have done this before with other consultations. It has worked and we have changed things. I honestly have an open mind here. I could put my head in the sand and do nothing about this - that would be the easy thing to do - but I will not do that. I want to try to make a difference and improve the situation for people with disabilities.
Social Welfare Schemes
Paul Murphy
Question:50. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will withdraw the proposals in the Green Paper on disability reform and implement instead a single-tier, non-means-tested disability allowance payment of €350 per week. [46723/23]
The Minister says the proposal in the Green Paper for a three-tier system of disability payments has nothing to do with the UK system. Is it not, however, founded on essentially the same idea as the work capability assessment in Britain, which is a test of capacity to work and then the establishment of tiers? Why should we believe a Government led by a Taoiseach who, when he was in the Minister's position, ran a campaign on a completely false basis claiming that "welfare cheats cheat us all"?
Census 2022 data indicates that there are 1.1 million people with at least one long-lasting condition. While I would love to be in a position where I had unlimited resources, providing a weekly payment of €350 to such a large number of people would not be sustainable. Even if I could, such an approach would also be unfair because people with disabilities are not one single group with identical challenges and needs. Disability exists across a spectrum and also affects people from all walks of life and backgrounds. That is one of the reasons we have a system of means tests and occupational assessments. They help to target resources to where they are needed most.
I acknowledge that the current system is outdated and overdue a change. It has been in place for decades and throughout that time we know that people with disabilities have faced higher rates of unemployment and poverty. That is why I want to generate ideas and discussion on how we can change the system so that we can increase the payments and improve employment outcomes.
The Green Paper is a starting point for discussion on the future of long-term disability payments. It sets out the issues faced by people with disabilities and proposes one way in which the existing system of incomes support might be changed. It does this to help move the debate on from what does not work to what might work.
I want to emphasise again that nobody will have their payment reduced nor will anybody lose their entitlement to a disability payment. In fact, in the approach set out, we want to help focus the discussion where many people would see their payment increase by more than €45 per week.
I would also like to emphasise that the system is not based on the UK model. The approach taken in the UK was designed to reduce the number of people in receipt of a disability payment and to reduce costs. This is not the case here and it is certainly not my intention. As I have said, if the approach set out in the Green Paper was to be implemented, many people would see their payments increase. I am glad to have the opportunity to set the record straight this evening.
The UK system is based on a work capability assessment. That is essentially what the system in the Minister's Green Paper is based on. Three tiers flow from that. The Minister said that nobody will have their payments cut but is it not the case that if she implements the proposal outlined in the Green Paper, people could have their payments cut? Those are found to be capable of working could be dropped a tier if they do not then work. Is that not the case? Clearly, someone could be moved from tier to tier based upon whether he or she takes up or is able to take up employment.
Second, I ask the Minister the question that I asked the Taoiseach. Has she seen the film by "I, Daniel Blake", which she should watch-----
I will watch it.
-----because it is precisely about the horrendous impact of what I believe is a similar system operating in Britain?
This is a Green Paper and it is for consultation and discussion. We usually have strawman proposals but we actually spoke to some of the groups and they said that they wanted to call it a Green Paper. The Deputy knows what is done with a strawman. Bits are taken out and put in, everything is moved about and we come up with a different man when we are finished. That is what this is about. It is about hearing the views of the stakeholders. These are the people with whom we talk, their representative groups and the disability organisations.
We also have to be honest. Ireland is below the EU average for employment rates for people with disabilities. I have worked to enhance the supports we have in my Department, whether that is the EmployAbility services, the reasonable accommodation fund, the WorkAbility programme or the wage subsidy scheme for people with disabilities but we need to do more to work with people and make them aware of the supports. This is about helping people who want to work; this is not about making anybody do anything that they do not want to do, or are not comfortable with. We will not force anything on anybody and, as I said, nobody will be moved off a disability payment or have their current payment reduced.
If the Minister establishes a tiered system based on capacity to work, that will be fine. When it is introduced, she can have the bottom tier, which comprises the most supposedly capable of working, equivalent to the current rates of payment. There is nothing to stop a Minister in a future Government, or another Government, from dropping that because the current Minister has established the principle that we do not just accept that people are not able to work, they are disabled, have an entitlement to a payment and the State should support them. Instead, however, we are discriminating among them based on some company or State agency deciding how much capacity that they have to work. We may start out with the bottom payment equivalent to the current payment but there is nothing there to retain that in the future. It is, potentially, divide and rule of people on disability payments.
Those on disability payments are very scared of this. One woman who contacted me said that the assessment process was dehumanising and soul-destroying, particularly the idea of proving that a person and their children are "disabled enough" to get the support needed. I do not understand that as, if the Minister says that she wants to increase the payment, let us just recognise the enormous cost of disability and increase payments across the board.
The background to the Green Paper is the The Cost of Disability in Ireland report, which was produced after extensive consultation. It was probably the biggest consultation on any report carried out by the State. We extended it a few times because people wanted more consultation. It is recommended that the levels of payment and allowances should be changed to reflect the very different costs associated with the severity and the type of disability. As the Deputy will understand, people on disability payments range across a wide spectrum of capabilities from those who have very profound physical and intellectual disabilities and who face significant extra costs to those who have less restrictive conditions. The current system of payments does not reflect this; instead, it takes a one-size-fits-all approach. That is why the The Cost of Disability in Ireland report proposed that while we should recognise and acknowledge all forms of disability, we should also differentiate our payments and target any extra resources at those people who need it.
Social Welfare Payments
Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire
Question:51. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection her views on the review of means tests for carer's allowance; and whether, in light of increased thresholds in 2024, flexibility can be demonstrated to those being means-tested currently. [46770/23]
I had criticisms of some of the elements of budget 2024 but one of the measures I welcomed was the increase in the means test thresholds for carer's allowance. Currently, I believe, however, that there is a large scale means test of people on carer's allowance happening which could lead to people being cut off who might then later qualify. Will the Minister comment on that?
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is important to say that means tests are used to target our resources to best effect in support of those who need them most. The rules for means-testing vary depending on the nature of the payment being claimed. The amount of income that is disregarded for carer's payments is the most generous within the social welfare system. As Minister, I have been concerned not just to protect this position but, in fact, to increase these income disregards:
Last June, the weekly income disregards were increased from €332.50 to €350 for a single person and from €665 to €750 for carers with a spouse and a partner. As part of budget 2024, the weekly income disregard will be increased further from €350 to €450 for a single person, and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse or partner.
Furthermore, I introduced the follow additional supports for carers as part of budget 2024: in November, a €400 a lump sum will be paid to people receiving the carer's support grant; in November, a special payment of €100 will be made for each qualified child on a claim, including on carer's claims; a Christmas bonus double payment will be paid to people in receipt of carer's allowance and carer’s benefit; from January 2024, there will be an increase of €12 in the maximum personal rate of weekly carer's payments, with proportionate increases for qualified adults and those on reduced rates, with an additional €4 increase per child; in January 2024, there will be an additional once-off double cost-of-living support payment, which will be paid to qualifying social protection recipients, including carers and people on long-term disability payments; the rate of payment for domiciliary care allowance will increase by €10 from January 2024.
I am satisfied that all of these measures will make a real and measurable difference to people who are caring for loved ones. In particular, raising the general weekly income disregard will mean that more people who are caring will become eligible for carer's allowance. Many carers are also in receipt of supports from other State bodies including, for example, the HSE. That is why I am establishing an interdepartmental working group with the Department of Health to examine and review the wider system of means tests for carers. I trust that clarifies the matter.
This has come to my attention because a number of people have contacted me recently who are being means-tested for their carer's allowance. Naturally, some of them are worried, as they would be when they are being means-tested. Anecdotally, from speaking to a number of these people, they believe this is occurring across the board and that a very large of people are being tested, perhaps more than the ordinary review of means test. Will the Minister confirm or deny that? In any event, in a number of these cases, the individuals in question are probably on the margins of the current threshold. Some of them potentially exceed the threshold due to a change in circumstances but would be under the new thresholds that will come in next June. This could lead to a perverse outcome, whereby somebody's allowance is cut off or reduced in December or January and that person is then brought back into the fold in June. In the past, in areas such as maintenance for single parents, the Minister was able to make changes to how payments operated. Would it be possible for the Department to consider, in cases where people might be disqualified but will fall under the new thresholds being introduced in June, not cutting them off for the intervening period?
As part of the work of social protection, reviews are always carried out. The Department carries out checks on an ongoing basis to ensure resources go to those who need them most.
To respond to the Deputy's question, the revised carer's allowance does not kick in until June 2024. That decision was taken and I will implement it in the social welfare Bill. I do not think I will be in a position to implement it any earlier, to be quite honest. At that stage, when the limits have changed, people can reapply. One of my priorities since I became Minister for Social Protection is to do as much as we can to support our carers because I know very well the huge work they do and the contribution they make to our society. In my first budget in the Department, I increased the carer's support grant to €1,850. In budget 2022, I was the first Minister in 14 years to make changes to the carer's means test. I changed it last year and I am changing it again in this year's budget.
I am not expecting the Minister to make policy on the floor of the Dáil. I ask her to take away my proposal and think about it. There are a category of people who will be cut off and whose allowance will then be restored within a period of six months. I do not believe this is necessary. The Minister may have the power to operate on either side of that by not cutting people off. That type of thing has been done in the past. I ask the Minister to go away to think about that. It is possible to resolve this. The carer's allowance is very important to me too because a large number of carers, despite their sacrifice and efforts, are living in very constrained circumstances. There is a lot of hardship in many instances and many carers are older and thinking about the years to come. Will the Minister provide an update on the carer's pension? The calculation process was due to kick in in January 2024. Is that still the case and will she give us an update on it?
I take the Deputy's point about carers who, on getting a review, are cut off. While I cannot make any promises now, I will look at that. I am ensuring that long-term carers who have spent 20 years or more caring will be able to access the State pension from January 2024. Legislation has to go through the Houses and I am hoping to get it passed very quickly. It will be a big change to the social welfare system. We will provide carers with paid contributions for the time they spent caring and those who missed out will be able to reapply. There are people who currently do not get the carer's pension but who will be able to reapply when I bring in these changes.
When will the Bill be published?
I am working on it now. We have these changes to make on the carer's pension and we will get the Bill through before the end of the year. It will take effect from 1 January 2024.
Social Welfare Benefits
Michael Lowry
Question:52. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Social Protection the processing times for carer's allowance applications; the sequential processing time for applications sent for review by applicants, and refusals that are under appeals by applicants (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46638/23]
I ask the Minister for the processing times for carer's allowance applications, the sequential processing time for applications sent for review by applicants and the refusals that are under appeal by applicants. I am particularly interested in her response regarding the Department's frequent refusal of applications from individuals who serve as full-time carers for those struggling with acute depression and suicidal tendencies. Will the Minister make a statement on this?
The Government acknowledges the crucial role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. To support carers, I announced a number of measures in budget 2024. These include the €400 cost-of-living lump sum payment which will be paid in November, and the €12 increase in the maximum rate of the carers allowance and the carers benefit from January 2024, with proportionate increases for people getting a reduced weekly rate. From January 2024, there will also be a €10 increase to the domiciliary care allowance payment and weekly rates of qualified child payments will increase by €4 in January 2024, bringing them to €54 for those aged 12 and over and €46 for those aged under 12. There will be a €100 cost-of-living lump sum for people getting an increase for a qualified child; a Christmas bonus double payment to be paid in December; and a January cost-of-living bonus for people getting a weekly social welfare payment, to be paid in 2024. Furthermore, as a result of budget 2024, the weekly income disregard will increase from €350 to €450 for a single person, and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse or partner. Carer's allowance disregards continue to be the highest income disregards in the entire social welfare system.
My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all people and ensuring that applications and appeals are processed as quickly as possible. Carer's allowance applications are processed very efficiently. The current average time for a decision is six weeks, compared with an average of 14 weeks in 2019. The target of having 75% of new applications decided within ten weeks is consistently met, with almost 90% of applications meeting this target.
With an increased number of new applications received and decided over the last 12 months, there has been a corresponding increase in the volume of requests for reviews. Currently, the average time to process a review is five weeks. I assure the Deputy that the Department's medical assessors give thorough consideration to all conditions that require care, including those involving suicidal tenancies.
In any year, approximately 1% of decisions taken by the Department are appealed. The Department endeavours to ensure these cases are dealt with as quickly as possible. The average processing time for carer's allowance appeals is 16 weeks and this reflects the fact that people very often submit new and additional information with the appeal.
I thank the Minister. I accept that all of the budgetary measures have been put in place. I refer, however, to the time it takes for carer's allowance applications to be processed. This is a very acute issue for somebody who gives up work to care for someone at home. This might happen suddenly if there is no other choice, especially when a member of the family is experiencing depression and the carer has to be with him or her full time. Carers are often asked to apply for supplementary welfare while they are waiting for a decision. I have seen cases where the whole process, from application through to review and appeal, has taken 25 or 26 weeks. I assume that where an appeal is successful, the applicant is paid from the date of the application. However, there are people living under very serious financial constraints while they are waiting for a decision. They may have no choice but to give up work or to cut back on their work hours to provide care and they then rely on a process that seems to be very slow.
I thank Deputy Canney. No more than they go to his office, people who have made applications also come to my constituency office. There are times when people make applications that not all of the information is provided. This is probably the main reason for delays, to be honest. I have spoken to officials about this. They say that if all of the information is in, and all of the necessary documentation has been completed by the doctor and whatever else, the application can be processed very quickly. As I said earlier, the current average time for a decision is six weeks. It has to be processed and, as Deputy Canney said, people can get the supplementary welfare allowance until such time as it is processed. It is important to state that the payment is backdated from the first day it is sought.
To improve the speed of the appeals process I published a draft set of new appeals regulations, including regulations setting maximum time limits for responses from the Department. I did this earlier this year. The chief appeals officer is reviewing the feedback from the consultation. I expect to give effect to the new regulations shortly. The benefit of this is that the time taken to process appeals should be significantly improved.
I welcome the review and I hope it will be implemented. Perhaps the Minister will outline what she sees as a reasonable timeframe for each decision to be made. Something else that happens is that the appeals office states it is waiting for documentation to come from the Department. I and other Deputies, including Deputy Lowry, are working on cases in the process with long waiting times. It is not always down to the paperwork not being fully there. In many cases it is just not getting through the system quickly enough.
The issue with supplementary welfare is that if somebody has been working and gives up work they may have income in that year so they will not get a supplementary welfare payment. It is important that we try to put in place timescales for decisions to be made. Where additional information is required there should be a timeframe once it is submitted. I know there has been an increase in applications and I know it is serious but carers and people who give up work to care full-time for people at home need to be treated with urgency and as a priority.
I thank Deputy Canney. Of course I understand it is a big step for anybody to take and it is not easy. In recent years one of the factors impacting processing times is the tendency for some people to submit claims early, before all of the required documentation is ready. This is in order to establish an entitlement date. When the application is made that is the beginning. People get the application in as quickly as possible and I understand why. However, it does prolong the processing time as the Department must write out and await receipt of the full documentation.
Where any scheme area experiences delay all possible steps are taken to improve the processing times. This includes the assignment of additional resources where available and the review of business processes to ensure the efficient processing of applications. A new IT system is being developed and this will also be deployed in the appeals office with a view to automating the exchange of information between it and the Department. This should improve the speed. The waiting times have reduced considerably but, like everything in life, we want it quicker and quicker. I understand why people want their payments.
Social Welfare Code
Catherine Connolly
Question:53. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Social Protection the details of any engagement between her Department and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth with regard to the introduction of a payment equivalent to child benefit for all children in the international protection process, as promised in the White Paper to End Direct Provision and to Establish a New International Protection Support Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46451/23]
My question is specifically to ask what engagement there has been between the Department and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth with regard to the introduction of a payment equivalent to child benefit for all children in the international protection process. I say this conscious that it is something clearly set out in the White Paper, which is more than two and a half years old. It was also in the advisory document prior to that.
I thank Deputy Connolly for the question. Applicants for international protection who are awaiting a decision on their application are offered accommodation by the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Those who accept such accommodation are provided with material reception conditions, including food and health services, together with other facilities and services designed to ensure their needs are met while seeking the protection of the State. The Department of Social Protection administers the daily expenses allowance which is paid to protection applicants who reside in accommodation provided by IPAS in order to meet personal expenses.
To receive child benefit in Ireland parents must be habitually resident in the State. The habitual residence condition is designed to provide entitlement to non-contributory benefits, including child benefit, to those who have established their connection to Ireland. Applicants for international protection do not satisfy the habitual residence condition and are, therefore, not eligible for child benefit. The habitual residence condition is provided for in Irish social welfare legislation and is in accordance with EU legislation and with European Court of Justice jurisprudence.
The White Paper on Ending Direct Provision was published in February 2020. It sets out a structure for a two-phase approach to accommodating applicants for international protection. In phase 1, the Department of Social Protection will continue to provide a daily expenses allowance as the income support payment to protection applicants while they reside in a reception and integration centre. In phase 2, applicants will move to accommodation in the community. A new international protection payment will be made by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to those protection applicants resident in the community who are still awaiting a decision on their application for protection.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is leading the implementation of the recommendations contained in the White Paper to End Direct Provision. The Department has ongoing engagement with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on these issues bilaterally and on a cross-Government basis.
Any potential new payment to children in the international protection process equivalent to child benefit is a matter for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The role of the Department of Social Protection, if any, will be that of facilitator of any such payment.
I had the opportunity to read the reply and I have to say I am really disappointed with it. Half the reply is telling me that people have to be habitual residents. I know this. The purpose of the question was to ask about those seeking international protection. Clearly they do not have residency. This is the result of an unjust system set up more than 21 years ago. It was supposed to be temporary. It has been the subject of numerous reports going back to the McMahon report. The most recent report is from the Ombudsman. It is the first time the Ombudsman has done a special report on serious concerns for the welfare of children. In my next supplementary question I will speak more about this.
My question is in the context of this and the White Paper which promised to abolish direct provision. The Ombudsman acknowledges the terrible pressure on the Government given the number of refugees who have come to our country in the past year. I also acknowledge this. However, direct provision was supposed to be abolished and the White Paper specifically recommended a payment equivalent to child benefit. The Minister of State might direct his second reply on this.
I thank Deputy Connolly. I understand the information she is looking for. I am here in my role with the Department of Social Protection. This Department's main role is administering the payment. I can state from my role in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth that funding has been secured for a new child payment. Beyond this there is not a large amount I can give in detail. I gave the context of the habitual residence condition because it was not the case in the past and it was possible to get child benefit. This means there is now a need for additional supports.
It is worth saying that the Department of Social Protection supports applicants for international protection through additional needs payments. Importantly, and not everyone is aware of this, there is also the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. The Department also supports international protection applicants who take up employment. Permission may be sought by applicants from the Department of Justice to have access to the labour market after six months. Importantly, and not everyone knows this, applicants for international protection who are in employment have access to the working family payment and public employment services, and may qualify for benefit schemes linked to PRSI contributions if working for a sufficient period of time.
I know the Minister of State has given me the surrounding information. I do not need the surrounding information. I have all of the reports. I asked the specific question on what engagement the Department has had. The Minister of State has told me, and I appreciate it, that there will be a payment. Is this the payment as set out in the White Paper? Is this what the Minister of State is speaking about with regard to a new payment? When will it come into being for people? I say this very much conscious of the report of the Ombudsman. He hopes, and he asks, that this will be discussed such is his serious concern. He issued a special report following an investigative report. The Ombudsman reiterates concerns that in the circumstances he cannot be satisfied that IPAS's commitment to seek the use of commercial hotels will be met in the short to medium term.
He went on to say that he cannot be satisfied that sufficient regard has been had to the vulnerability of children. We are talking about thousands of children within the international protection process but only 10% of vulnerability assessments have been carried out. It is in this context that I am asking the question about the specific recommendation that a child payment be introduced. Has the Minister of State had a costing in relation to this measure? I appreciate the work the Department of Social Protection does. This country could not survive without the services provided by the Department.
Being honest, I only have limited information, and the key piece of information I have concerning the questions the Deputy is asking is that the budget has been allocated. Additionally, regarding vulnerability and the vulnerability of children, the Government has co-funded family support practitioners for those families living in IPAS accommodation to support the pathway for integrated community-based child and family support services. These practitioners provide support to improve quality of life for families by promoting the personal, social and educational development of children, young people and their parents. Practitioners work in partnership with Tusla and other community-based services and agencies, including IPAS and the counselling in primary care, CIPC, service as well. Practitioners enable parents, guardians, carers and families to sustain the safe care of their children in the home setting. The plan is that there will be one of these practitioners in every Tusla area. I think there will be 17 in total, and some of these are in place now. This will improve the situation on the ground in direct provision centres.
I apologise for going over time.