Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 April 2004
155 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, further to Parliamentary Question No. 400 of 6 April, the reason a person’s rent supplement was reduced when their one-parent family allowance was increased after a second child was born while the allowance relates to the parent and child dependants and rent support should remain constant. [12341/04]
View answerRent supplements are subject to a means test. In addition to a minimum contribution of €13 that all recipients must pay towards their rent, recipients must contribute additional assessable means over and above the appropriate basic supplementary welfare allowance rate.
The person concerned has two children, the youngest of whom was born recently. After her second child was born her rent supplement was reviewed but she had not received the increase of €19.30 per week in her one-parent family payment for her second child. As a result a higher rent supplement was awarded than is ordinarily paid to a lone parent with two children. This continued until she received the full amount of the one-parent family payment to which she was entitled. The review also took into account that she had an earlier overpayment that resulted in a reduction of €20 per week. Her rent supplement was reduced by €3.20 per month.
Recently the person concerned was awarded a small increase in the one-parent family payment due to the arrival of her second child following a review of her means. A higher rent supplement was no longer required because she has received her full entitlement of the one-parent family payment. She now receives a rent supplement ordinarily paid to a lone parent with two children, less €20 per week to recover the overpayment.
156 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs whether a person who works under 20 hours a week is entitled to claim part unemployment assistance and if their work can be carried out over a five day period instead of three days. [12343/04]
View answerThe Deputy is referring to a person who is employed as a home help for five days per week.
Social welfare legislation provides that all unemployed persons must satisfy the conditions of being available for full-time employment and genuinely seeking work in order to be entitled to unemployment assistance. Any person who fails to satisfy these conditions on an ongoing basis is not entitled to an the payment.
A person who engages in part-time work for three days or less per week may qualify for unemployment assistance in respect of the remaining days of the week provided he or she continues to be available for full-time employment. They must also satisfy all of the statutory conditions connected to the payment.
Persons employed as home helps are eligible to apply for unemployment assistance for any days or weeks during which they are not engaged in home help duties provided they are otherwise available for full-time employment and genuinely seeking work. Any income deriving from participation in the home help service is not, in general, taken into account as means for the purposes of determining entitlement to unemployment assistance.
To qualify for payment, however, they must be fully unemployed for at least three days in any period of six consecutive days. A person who works for a period during each of five days in a week does not qualify for unemployment assistance in that week even if the total number of hours of work is less than 20.
158 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) in County Cork has been refused a rent subsidy for rented accommodation in view of the fact that they cannot obtain local authority housing. [12372/04]
View answerHealth boards administer the supplementary welfare allowance scheme subject to conditions. A weekly or monthly rent supplement is paid to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation needs and who do not have accommodation available from another source.
The Southern Health Board was contacted about this case. It advised that the person concerned was refused a rent supplement because she was deemed to be adequately housed in local authority accommodation.
