Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2004
206 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has plans with the Department of Health and Children to co-ordinate the methods of calculation of capital means in relation to means-tested benefits available from his Department. [33274/04]
View answerI understand that the Deputy is referring to the assessment of capital in the means tests applying to the nursing home subvention operated by the Department of Health and Children and the old age pension scheme operated by my Department.
On budget day, I was pleased to announce that the amount of capital disregarded for means test purposes for all social welfare schemes, except supplementary welfare allowance, will be increased from €12,694.38 to €20,000, an increase of over €7,300. It is estimated that approximately 12,000 claimants will gain as a result of the improvement. This measure, which takes effect from June 2005, will cost €5.1 million in a full year.
I introduced this improvement in the context of the overall Government strategy to encourage a regular savings culture among the population in general. As part of this strategy, the innovative special savings investment accounts were introduced in 2001 and these accounts have been opened by a very large number of people, including pensioners and other social welfare recipients. The new arrangements are designed to ensure that the social welfare means testing arrangements do not act as a disincentive to claimants to become savers or to harshly penalise those who have been regular savers in the past.
The enhanced disregard applies to all capital regardless of where it is held, be it in an SSIA, a credit union, with An Post or any other account with a bank or other financial institution. For means testing purposes, capital also includes stocks and shares and the capital value of property, other than the family home. The arrangements, including the underlying criteria, for assessing the value of capital for access to the nursing home subvention scheme is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children.
