Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 October 2013
17. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider reversing the changes she made to farm assist in view of the fact that it has had a serious negative affect on the income levels of already struggling farming families; if she has carried out an analysis of the impact of the changes on these families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43769/13]
View answer32. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Social Protection if she has carried out an analysis on the impact her changes to farm assist with respect to income disregards have had on farmers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43770/13]
View answerI propose to answer Question numbers 17 & 32 together.
The farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker’s allowance. It was introduced in 1999 to replace ‘Smallholders Unemployment Assistance’ for low income farmers, without the requirement to be available for and genuinely seeking work. Farm assist recipients retain all the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes.
Recent changes to the scheme have brought it into closer alignment with the jobseeker’s allowance scheme’s treatment of self-employed persons.
Farm assist is a flexible payment and any farmer experiencing lower levels of income or cash-flow issues can ask his/her local social welfare / Intreo office to review the level of means applying to his/her claim.
The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income and looks at gross income, less any expenses necessarily incurred, from farming. Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally used as an indicator of the expected position in the following year. However, account is taken of any exceptional circumstances so as to ensure that the assessment accurately reflects the current situation. In the case of new entrants or persons changing from one type of farming to another the assessment looks at all expected annual income and is based on normal output and costs appropriate to items such as normal stock levels, capacity, and market trends.
It may be noted that payments received under the Agri-Environment Options Scheme or Special Area of Conservation schemes are assessed separately from other farm income. With regard to this income the first €2,540 is disregarded, then 50% of the balance and related expenses are disregarded - with the balance being assessed as means.
No formal analysis of the impact of recent changes has been carried out but the scheme is kept under review. In addition the Department regularly discusses the scheme with the Irish Farmers Association. There are no plans to change the current scheme criteria.
