Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, a weekly or monthly rent or mortgage interest supplement is available to assist eligible people who are unable to meet their immediate accommodation needs through their own resources. The scheme is subject to statutory means test rules contained in the third schedule, Part IV of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993, as amended, and regulations made thereunder. The details of the disregards referred to by the Deputy are outlined below.
Under standard supplementary welfare allowance assessment rules, rent supplements are calculated to ensure that an eligible person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to his or her family circumstances, less a minimum contribution of €13 which each recipient is required to pay from his or her own resources. Family income supplement is disregarded in the standard means test. In addition, in cases where the applicant has part-time employment, that is, fewer than 30 hours per week, up to €60 of weekly earnings is disregarded.
Social welfare programmes aim to be responsive to the needs of those who depend on income maintenance support while providing incentives to assist people to become more independent financially, particularly through employment. In this regard, a number of measures have been introduced in recent years to remove disincentives to taking up employment and to assist in the transition from welfare to work. These measures include employment support schemes such as the back to work programme and special means disregards and tapered withdrawal of benefits as earnings increase.
People are entitled to retain certain social welfare and other secondary benefits in total or in part for the duration of the employment scheme, subject to certain conditions. For most people, the most significant secondary benefit is rent or mortgage interest supplement, which is paid under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. An income limit of €317.43 per week applies to the retention of these supplements. No income limit applies to the back to work allowance itself.
While this rent supplement retention income limit has not changed since its introduction, significant other improvements have been made to the means test subsequently. Back to work allowance and family income supplement, in cases where one or both of these are in payment, are disregarded in the assessment of the €317.43 weekly income limit. PRSI and reasonable travelling expenses are also disregarded in the means test.
Under these special arrangements, rent supplement may be retained for up to four years on a tapered basis, that is, 75% of supplement in year one, 50% in year two and 25% in years three and four. In addition, the maximum payment limit of €317.43 per month on the amount of supplement payable was abolished for people on the approved schemes.
In effect, this means that people who commence employment through a back to work scheme or community employment following a period of unemployment can have a weekly household income significantly in excess of the €317.43 limit and still qualify to retain 75% of their rent or mortgage interest supplement. For example, in the first year of his or her participation in the back to work allowance scheme, a single person can have combined income from the back to work allowance and wages of €429 while a couple with two children can have a combined income of €528.25. In addition, the separate maximum payment limit of €317.43 per month on the amount of supplement payable was abolished for people on the approved schemes.
People availing of an employment support scheme may opt to be assessed under either standard supplementary welfare allowance rules or under the special retention rules and will be entitled to receive payment under whichever is the more favourable option for them. A person on a community employment scheme or other back to work scheme whose household income is above the €317.43 weekly limit for retention of secondary benefits may still qualify for rent supplement under the standard rules. In that context, I introduced amending regulations in January 2005 to increase the income disregard in the standard rules of the scheme from €50 to its current level of €60 per week.
Half of any maintenance payments a lone parent receives can be disregarded as means for the purposes of assessing a person's entitlement to one-parent family payment. The means test for this and certain other social assistance schemes also provides for a disregard of up to €95.23 per week of maintenance payments in instances where applicants have rent or mortgage interest obligations on their family homes. Given that up to €95.23 per week of maintenance payments has already been disregarded in the means test for the primary scheme payment purposes to allow for housing costs, maintenance income up to this weekly amount is assessable in determining the appropriate level of rent supplement payable. However, depending on the particular family housing cost, up to €60 per week of maintenance in excess of this €95.23 amount can be disregarded for rent supplement means assessment purposes to ensure that the family has the benefit of the extra maintenance income up to that level before it affects their rent supplement entitlements.
In the past, in the specific situation where budget increases in rates of payment were granted to old age pensioners at amounts higher than which applied to supplementary welfare allowance, a special income disregard was introduced to ensure that the people concerned received the full benefit of their budget increase. The amount of income in excess of the basic supplementary welfare allowance rate that can be disregarded in the means test for rent supplement for people aged 65 or over who are in receipt of a social welfare pension or equivalent payment from another country is now €26 per household. The 2006 Abridged Estimates made no provision for changes in rent supplement eligibility, entitlements or rates of payment. Any such change in the scheme would be a matter for consideration in the context of the forthcoming budget.