Written Answers Nos. 417-436
418. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Social Protection if the decision in Budget 2013 to cut the back to education allowance was equality proofed; and his views on whether decreasing this allowance will prevent marginalised and disadvantaged learners from upskilling through their participation in further education courses. [2673/13]
View answerThe number of recipients of the back to education allowance (BTEA) in the 2012/2013 academic year is approximately 25,800 which represents an increase of over 190% on the numbers participating in the 2007/2008 academic year. Expenditure in 2013 is expected to be over €189 million, compared to over €77m in 2008. Approximately 58% of people on BTEA are male and 42% are female.
A number of measures in relation to the scheme were introduced in Budget 2013. These were:
- the discontinuation of the up-rating of payments where a person was on a means reduced rate of a qualifying payment;
- reducing for new participants the up-rating from €188 per week to €160 where a person was on a reduced, age related rate of jobseeker’s allowance; and
- the discontinuation of the cost of education allowance.
The first two measures I have outlined above apply to new entrants to the scheme from January and will not affect recipients who were in receipt of BTEA in 2012 or previous years.
The BTEA scheme remains an attractive scheme for social welfare recipients who wish to further their education. A significant majority of those entering the scheme are in receipt of the maximum personal rate of payment of €188 per week, in addition increases for qualified adults and children may also be payable. This compares very favourably with other State funded supports for those pursuing education. My Department is currently finalising a Social Impact Assessment of the main taxation and welfare changes announced in Budget 2013. This SIA will include an analysis of the distributive and poverty impacts of these changes on different family types as well as the impact on at risk of poverty levels. I will be examining the analysis when it is finalised and I will give consideration to its publication at that stage.
419. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Social Protection her views on the situation workers in the meat industry find themselves in where factories have had to close for indefinite duration; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3366/13]
View answerIt is understood that some or all of the employees concerned may be in a lay-off situation. The Department is not aware of any of the employees concerned having been made redundant to date. Jobseeker's benefit is a weekly payment to people out of work and covered by social insurance. To qualify for jobseeker's benefit a person must:
- be unemployed;
- be under 66 years of age;
- have enough social insurance contributions;
- be capable of work;
- be available for and genuinely seeking work; and
- have had a substantial loss of employment and as a result be unemployed for at least 3 days out of any 6.
If a person does not qualify for jobseeker's benefit they may qualify for means tested jobseeker's allowance. Where people are in a lay-off situation they may be regarded as unemployed and as having suffered a substantial loss of employment. Subject to the general scheme criteria, workers would usually be entitled to claim jobseeker’s benefit or allowance in such circumstances.
Where an employee has been put in a lay-off situation or put on short-time working hours, or a mixture of both, either for four consecutive weeks or for a broken series of six weeks where all six weeks occur within a 13 week period, he/she can serve written notice to his/her employer stating his/her intention to claim a redundancy lump sum payment. In these situations, an employer can, within seven days from the date of notice from the employee, give a counter notice by offering the employee not less than thirteen weeks unbroken employment commencing within 4 weeks of the employee serving notice.
In the event that any of the employees concerned are eventually made redundant they may be eligible for a statutory redundancy payment under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2012. In order to be eligible for a statutory redundancy lump sum payment, an employee must:
- have at least two years continuous service;
- be in employment which is insurable under the Social Welfare Acts;
- be over the age of 16; and
- have been made redundant as a result of a genuine redundancy situation meaning that the job no longer exists and he/she is not replaced.
Under the scheme, an eligible employee is entitled to two weeks' pay for every year of service, plus a bonus week, subject to a gross weekly salary ceiling of €600.
It is the employer’s responsibility to pay statutory redundancy payments in the first instance. Where an employer can prove to the satisfaction of the Department that it is unable to pay statutory redundancy to its eligible employees the Department will make lump sum payments directly to those employees. Such payments raise a debt against the employer which the Department will seek to recover.
421. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the actions taken by her Department to address the underemployment in the labour market. [51893/12]
View answer424. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the steps taken by her Department to tackle the issue of underemployment. [3231/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 421 and 424 together.
Underemployment is defined as employment where people are
1. Working part-time
2. Willing to work additional hours
3. Available to work additional hours.
There has been a significant rise in the numbers classified as underemployed in recent years, with the latest figures showing almost 148,000 people, 1 in 3 part-time workers being classified as such by the CSO. The main factor driving this rise in underemployment is the same factor that has been the main cause of the unemployment problem, namely weak labour demand. Similarly, the approach to reducing underemployment is the same as reducing unemployment. In the first instance, the Government’s primary strategy to tackle both unemployment and underemployment is to create the environment for a strong economy recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity through the Action Plan for Jobs. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth.
In addition to promoting economic recovery, the Government recognises the need for interim measures until labour demand recovers. These intervention measures involve both activation measures and income support. In many cases the activation measures contained in Pathways to Work and outlined in response to parliamentary questions on tackling long-term unemployment are also of relevance to tackling underemployment. The activation measures of particular relevance to counteracting underemployment are those that incentivise employers to give full-time jobs to persons who are currently on the Live Register (including the underemployed) – most notably the Employers PRSI Incentive and the Revenue Job Assist Scheme (which is the responsibility of the Revenue Commissioners).
Additionally, the Part-Time Job Incentive (PTJI) Scheme is intended as a stepping stone to full-time work partly in recognition of the reality of underemployment. It allows certain long-term unemployed people to take up part-time work and get a special weekly allowance instead of their jobseeker’s payment. Recipients of the Part-Time Job Incentive Scheme must be available for and seeking full-time work while getting the payment.
Finally, the Department provides income support via Jobseekers Benefit/Jobseekers Allowance to the underemployed to supplement their earned income, provided a person is working no more than 3 days a week. In addition, jobseekers payments paid in conjunction with such periods of casual employment may now count towards satisfying the 6 month qualifying period for access to the JobBridge Internship programme.
427. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm that under the terms of the Personal Insolvency Bill 2012, all pre-existing debt advisory services, in particular State funded ones, who will likely perform several of the functions established under the Bill will be adequately resourced to provide such advice; if she will detail any steps he has taken in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54441/12]
View answerThe Personal Insolvency Act 2012 provides for a Debt Relief Notice for persons with no assets or income with unsecured debts of up to €20,000. With the assistance of an approved intermediary, a person may apply for a Debt Relief Notice which will allow for the full write-off of qualifying unsecured debt after a three year supervision period. The Citizens Information Board, which has the statutory responsibility for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) has agreed to my request that MABS be an approved intermediary for the purpose of processing applications for Debt Relief Notices. Those who can avail of Debt Relief Notices are typically part of the MABS core client cohort of people on low incomes in debt or in danger of falling into debt.
Sanction has been given for 16 temporary staff to be assigned to MABS for up to 2 years, to establish an Approved Intermediary Service (AIS) for the purposes of processing Debt Relief Notices as part of the new Insolvency Service. It is envisaged that the service will be mainstreamed across the MABS network over that period. An implementation process is underway and the CIB/MABS are working closely with the new Insolvency Service to ensure that the AIS will be operational in time for the establishment of the Insolvency Service. I am satisfied that MABS has sufficient available resources to undertake this important new statutory role and to continue to provide an excellent service to assist people with debt difficulties.
429. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection her views on whether the length of time it takes for her Department to process a rent supplement application is acting as a disincentive to landlords providing accommodation for persons who may need rent supplement; her views on whether this trend is having a detrimental effect on the ability of persons to access accommodation in their locality; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4125/13]
View answerThe purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support, to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are approximately 88,000 persons in receipt of rent supplement for which the Government has provided a sum of €403 million for 2013. Approximately 48,700 rent supplement claims were awarded during 2012 throughout the country, proving that private landlords are accommodating people under the scheme and that recipients are sourcing accommodation in their localities.
The timescale for determining individual applications for rent supplement is dependent, among other things, on the availability of the required information, such as details of the applicant’s income, bank statements, information from landlords, etc. In addition, some aspects of the applications are inevitably time consuming and delays can occur where further investigations or third party evidence is required. Delays can also arise if the applicant is slow to respond to requests for additional information. The Department’s units responsible for rent supplement applications in the Kildare area generally process them within 2 days of receipt where all the necessary information has been supplied.
If the Deputy has a concern in relation to processing times in a particular area or in respect of an individual, she should provide this detail to the Department for follow up. I am satisfied that the Department’s staff dealing with these applications make every effort to ensure rent supplement claims are processed in an efficient manner.
430. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Social Protection if it is her intention from 2014 to impose PRSI on State savings bond and certificates, on State prize bonds and on other such accounts where interest currently accrues on a tax-free basis; and if she will outline her full plans regarding same. [4132/13]
View answerIn Budget 2013 the Minister for Finance announced that, with effect from 2014, PRSI will be payable on income generated from wealth such as rental income, investment income, dividends and interest on deposits and savings. It is not possible at this early stage to provide details of the impact of the measure on different forms of income. However, in general, the rules which apply to income for taxation purposes also apply to income for the purposes of charging PRSI.
433. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm if a person (details supplied) in County Laois is in receipt of their correct payment from the Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4175/13]
View answerThe person in question is currently receiving carer’s allowance for two children. The weekly carer’s allowance payment the person in question is receiving is €330.50 per week. This payment consists of a personal rate of €204 for the first caree, €102 for the second caree, and payments of €14.90 half rate for each of her five children. This total weekly payment of €380.50 is reduced to €330.50 as there is a weekly debt recovery deduction of €50 assessed against the person concerned in relation to a significant overpayment on a previous one-parent family payment.
The person in question is also in receipt of domiciliary care allowance in respect of two children at a monthly rate of €619.00. She also received the annual respite care grant payment which is paid to all carers in receipt of domiciliary care allowance and/or carer’s allowance. If you are caring for more than one person you may be entitled to an additional 50% of the maximum rate of carer’s allowance each week. The person in question is already receiving this additional payment and therefore no increase for a third child is possible. There is no restriction on the number of children in respect of whom you may claim domiciliary care allowance. As far as this department is concerned the person in question is currently in receipt of the correct payments. The person concerned should apply for any further entitlements she believes she may qualify for.
434. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the outstanding requirements of her Department in respect of further documentation required to determine the eligibility for free fuel allowance in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare who has already provided all the required information to the best of their ability; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4176/13]
View answerThe person concerned is in receipt of invalidity pension since 15 September 2011. In order to qualify for the national fuel scheme, applicants must satisfy a means assessment and be living alone or only with persons who satisfy specific criteria. On 24 May 2012, in order to determine entitlement to free fuel allowance, the person in question was asked for details regarding employment with and payment from a specific company and for full details of the income of other person(s) residing with him. To date no correspondence has been received from him regarding same. However, according to my department’s records, the claimant’s son, residing at the same address, has earnings from employment which exceed the limit allowed for entitlement to a fuel allowance and therefore fuel allowance was refused by a deciding officer on 18 December 2012. If the circumstances in this case have changed, the person in question should submit full details to my Department and his application for fuel allowance will be reviewed.
435. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection if an appeal for carer's allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny will be expedited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4177/13]
View answerI am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all the evidence, including that adduced at oral hearing, has allowed the appeal of the person concerned. The person concerned has been notified of the decision. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.
436. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason rent supplement payment has ceased in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Carlow; if payment will be recommenced in this instance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4186/13]
View answerThe rent allowance claim of the person concerned is currently under review. A written request for information was sent to her on 9th January 2013 and a reminder letter issued on 21st January 2013. To enable the rent allowance review to be completed, the person concerned should submit the information requested or contact her local community welfare service office.
