Written Answers Nos. 129-58
129. Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a determination will be made on an appeal for disability allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34204/14]
View answerI am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, has decided to allow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision. The person concerned has been notified of the Appeals Officer’s 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 in relation to social welfare entitlements.
130. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of successful applications for exceptional needs payments in the Dublin 15 and 24 areas in the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014; and the amount that was paid in these years and these areas. [34216/14]
View answer151. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the expenditure on exceptional needs payments in each year since 2010, including 2014 to the end of August; the reasons for the changes in the amount paid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34508/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 130 and 151 together.
Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided €31.3m for ENPs in 2014.
There is no automatic entitlement to a payment. The ENP scheme is demand led and payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance. Examples of the main types of needs that are met under the scheme include assistance towards new house kit-outs, funeral and burial expenses, the purchase of household appliances, clothing and child related items such as cots and prams.
A review of the guidelines on exceptional needs payments was carried out during 2012 by a working group of staff from the Department’s community welfare service. One of the recommendations emanating from this review was to address the different approaches taken, in different areas, to the payment of ENPs. This review has been used as a basis for revised guidelines that issued to staff in 2012 and 2013, recommending maximum amounts payable under the scheme for a variety of household and personal items, to ensure consistency with regard to payment levels on a national basis.
These guidelines assist Departmental staff and do not limit the discretionary powers available to officers administering the scheme to assist an individual or household in any particular hardship situation which may arise. Officials in the Department continue to review the issue of payments under the ENP scheme to ensure consistency and fairness.
The number of ENP payments and expenditure for Dublin 15 and Dublin 24 for the years 2011 to 2014 are set out in the following tabular statement. The tabular statement also sets out national ENP expenditure for the period 2010 to end of August 2014.
Tabular Statement
Exceptional Needs Payments - Numbers of Payments and Expenditure
|
- |
DUBLIN 15 |
DUBLIN 15 |
DUBLIN 24 |
DUBLIN 24 |
NATIONAL |
|
YEAR |
No. of Payments |
Expenditure |
No. of Payments |
Expenditure |
Expenditure |
|
2010 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
€69.4m |
|
2011 |
3,944 |
€1.2m |
4,905 |
€1.7m |
€62.6m |
|
2012 |
6,527 |
€2.6m |
7,426 |
€2.3m |
€52.7m |
|
2013 |
4,735 |
€1.3m |
3,505 |
€1.4m |
€35.7m |
|
2014 (to end August) |
2,493 |
€0.7m |
1,808 |
€0.7m |
€19.2m |
Note 1: Dublin area details are available from May 2011.
131. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her views on findings in the OECD pensions report (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34283/14]
View answerThe various findings and recommendations contained in the OECD Review of the Irish Pensions System and published last year remain under consideration and continue to inform our development of pensions policy.
The OECD recommended that the single greatest goal in Irish pension policy should be to increase pension coverage through the introduction of a mandatory or quasi mandatory earnings related scheme and/or by improving financial incentives. This key recommendation was aimed at improving the adequacy of pensions by increasing coverage in the funded part of the pensions system.
Changing demographics will see the ratio of working age to pensioner reduce from 5.3 to 1 to 2.1 to 1 by 2060 and will result in significant upward pressure on the State finances which are required to fund pension provision. Therefore, there is a need to encourage a long-term savings habit by individuals to supplement income from the State pension for those who will otherwise not be in a position to enjoy standards of living in retirement similar to those in pre-retirement.
Against this backdrop and in line with the OECD key recommendation and with the Programme for Government, the recent 2014-2016 Statement of Priorities confirmed that the Government will agree a roadmap and timeline for the introduction of a new, universal supplementary pension saving scheme. This decision has been taken in response to the adequacy and sustainability challenges in the Irish pensions system which has become an increasing concern in recent years. Development of this roadmap for a universal pension over the course of 2015 will involve detailed consideration of policy and operational parameters, and will include co-operation across a range of Government departments and engagement with all sectoral interests.
A range of other reforms, consistent with the recommendations of the OECD Review, have recently been undertaken or are currently being undertaken. These include, (but are not limited to) –
The State Pension
- the OECD noted that Ireland’s raising of the State pension age to 66 from 2014, 67 in 2021 and to 68 in 2028 will bring increased sustainability to the pension system and recognised that by international comparison Ireland was ‘ahead of the curve’ in already making hard decisions in this area;
- The OECD indicated that the link between social insurance contributions and benefits obtained from the State pension is weak and should be strengthened. In this regard it noted that in April 2012 Ireland began to strengthen this link with the introduction of new rate bands and required level of contributions;
- The OECD further noted that this link between contributions and benefits will be further strengthened by the planned introduction of the ‘Total Contributions’ approach in 2020
Occupational/Supplementary Pensions
- The OECD referred to the existing tax deferral structure providing greater incentives for those with higher incomes to save for retirement. As committed to in the Programme for Government, the Government subsequently took the necessary measures to cap taxpayers subsidy for all future pensions schemes that deliver income in retirement of more than €60,000;
- The OECD recommended reform that would allow for accrued benefits to be cut in the case of Defined Benefit (DB) scheme underfunding and for risks to be shared between plan members and pensioners, as well as plan sponsors. The Government subsequently introduced the Social Welfare and Pensions (No) 2 Act 2013 which provides for a fairer distribution of the assets amongst all members when an underfunded DB pension scheme is in wind up;
- In line with the OECD recommendation to strengthen the Irish legislation regarding the protection of DB plan members when plans wind up, the Social Welfare and Pensions (No) 2 Act 2013 provides further protection to members of a double insolvency (scheme and employer) in the form of a State guarantee where all of the beneficiaries of the scheme (pensioners, current employees and former employees, not yet retired) will receive at least 50% of their benefits. Existing defined benefit pensions in payment in such schemes will be 100% protected up to €12,000;
- Provisions within the Social Welfare and Pensions (No) 2 Act 2013 facilitated the Pensions Authority (PA) introducing tighter regulation to protect DB scheme members. This entails refusing to accept funding proposals from schemes with less than 50% funding and forcing schemes to take actions to address their very poor funding situations. It allows the PA impose additional obligations to ensure significantly underfunded schemes achieve a base level of funding in the short term.
In relation to public service pension provision, whilst this is a policy area proper to my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin T.D., it is worth noting that the OECD referred to the many important changes to public service pension provision in recent years and highlighted that in terms of public service pension reform Ireland ‘belonged to the group of more advanced countries in this area”. This analysis by the OECD did not include the subsequent pension savings achieved by the Government under the Haddington Road Agreement.
Restructuring of the Pensions Board
In Qtr 1 2014, the governance of the Pensions Board (17 paid members) was restructured. This followed a Government decision on the recommendations of the Critical Review Group provided for by the Public Service Reform Programme. The new structure accommodates two distinct arms consisting of:
- a three-person Pensions Authority, comprised of an independent chair and 2 ex officio members of government bodies, to provide operational oversight of pensions regulation. The Pensions Board changed name to the Pensions Authority. The new governance structure commenced in March 2014 comprising a senior official from each of the Departments of Social Protection and Finance, and the re-appointment of the former Chairperson of the Pensions Board as Chairperson of the Authority; and
- a separate unpaid Pensions Council, with a majority of members representing consumer interests, which will advise the Minister on pensions policy. The selection of candidates for positions on the Council is underway and will be completed shortly.
Merger of the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman with the Financial Services Ombudsman
- A Steering Group has been established and work is under way to progress the merger recommended in the Critical Review. The timeline for implementation has yet to be fully finalised but it is hoped to complete the merger by mid-2015. Legislation will be required to effect the merger between the two offices.
132. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a decision will be made in respect of an application for domiciliary care allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 13. [34299/14]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 9th July 2014. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Upon receipt of this opinion, a decision will be made and notified to the person concerned. It can currently take over 10 weeks to process an application for DCA.
133. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will increase training provision for deciding officers working in her Department. [34344/14]
View answerDeciding officer training is delivered throughout all business areas that process social welfare claims in Headquarter Buildings and the network of Intreo/local office centres. The training comprises a blend of formal classroom based training and on-the-job mentoring and is provided by full and part-time trainers in business divisions and Intreo offices. These trainers are supported from the Department’s central training area, Staff Development Unit.
As part of the rollout of the Intreo service to the Department’s office network, a training needs analysis is carried out for each office and, where needs are identified, deciding officer training is provided to all relevant staff. In addition, all deciding officer training requirements identified as part of the Performance Management Development System (PMDS) process are notified to the relevant training area to plan and deliver such training.
During 2014, the Department has undertaken a major project to review and redesign training in the functions performed by frontline roles in the Department, including deciding officers. The newly developed deciding officer training modules will be rolled out in 2015. The ultimate objective of this project is to develop a formal programme to provide staff with a suite of consistent, professional standard, accredited training which will equip them with the knowledge and technical skills to perform their roles to a high standard.
Formal classroom-based deciding officer training was delivered to 232 officers in 2013 and, to date in 2014, 240 officers have received such training.
134. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of social welfare appellants who requested an oral hearing of their appeals in the years 2013 and to date in 2014; and the number of these requests which were granted resulting in an oral hearing of the appeals. [34346/14]
View answerI am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that statistics are not maintained in respect of the number of appellants who request oral hearings and it is not in a position, therefore, to supply the information sought by the Deputy. Social Welfare legislation provides that an Appeals Officer may determine an appeal without an oral hearing where s/he is of the opinion that it can be determined fairly on the basis of the documentary evidence provided. However, I am advised that where an appellant requests an oral hearing, the request is generally granted unless the Appeals Officer is of the opinion that the appeal can be allowed on a summary basis, or where there is clearly nothing to be gained by granting an oral hearing, for example where the appeal question relates to contribution conditions or means and the underlying means or contribution figures are not disputed.
28,062 appeals were finalised by Appeals Officers in 2013, and of these 7,598 (27.1%) were decided following an oral appeal hearing. Of the 17,828 appeals finalised between 1 January and 31 August 2014, 5,354 (30%) were following an oral appeal hearing.
135. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the correct amount of rent support payable in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34355/14]
View answerThe client has made an application for Rent Supplement for his current rental accommodation. The client has been advised the current rent payable is well in excess of the maximum limit appropriate to his family composition and location which is €575. Should he secure a rent reduction or source alternative accommodation, the client’s Rent Supplement entitlement can be re-assessed.
136. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, the number of individuals resident in the State and in receipt of UK state pensions for each of the following years, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, based on information provided to her Department by the UK Department for Work and Pensions. [34383/14]
View answer137. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, an analysis of the gross value of UK state pensions received by residents here for each of the years 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, based on information provided to the Department by the UK Department for Work and Pensions. [34384/14]
View answer138. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, the number of individuals resident by county and in receipt of UK state pensions for 2012 and 2013, based on information provided to the Department by the UK Department for Work and Pensions. [34385/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 136 to 138, inclusive, together.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Social Protection (DSP) and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in the UK, the DSP has received information from the DWP regarding their clients, with addresses in the Republic of Ireland, who are in receipt of United Kingdom welfare payments.
This information is used solely to identify mutual customers, that is, persons in receipt of a UK welfare payment who are also in receipt of a “top-up” Irish non-contributory welfare payment. Under the Memorandum of Understanding information is only maintained on mutual customers. As a result the information requested by the Deputy on the total number of individuals resident in the State and in receipt of UK State Pensions for each of the following years, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, along with an analysis of the gross value of UK State Pension for those years and county details for 2012 and 2013 is not available to the Department.
According to the DWP website the following are the number of DWP clients with addresses in the Republic of Ireland who are in receipt of UK welfare payments.
|
Year: |
2009 (Nov) |
2010 (Nov) |
2011 (Nov) |
2012 (Nov) |
2013 (Nov) |
|
Per DWP website: |
115,630 |
121,400 |
125,530 |
128,860 |
132,070 |
139. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, the number of individuals resident in the State and in receipt of US social security pensions for each of the years, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, based on information requested from or provided by the US social security system. [34386/14]
View answer140. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, the number of individuals resident in the State and in receipt of state social security pensions from other EU members, Australia and Canada for 2011, 2012 and 2013 based on information, provided by or requested from the social security authorities of those other states. [34387/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 140 together.
The information requested by the Deputy is not available to my Department. Details of an individual’s income and assets (including any state pensions they may receive from other countries) are only required by my Department where that person makes an application for a social assistance scheme for which a means test must be satisfied.
141. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her plans to set up an actuarial unit within her Department, staffed by qualified actuaries to ensure that reliable independent information is available to her Department in making informed decisions on the setting of both contributions and rates of benefit in the future. [34389/14]
View answerI do not have any proposals to set up an Actuarial Unit within my Department staffed by qualified actuaries.
Staff in the various areas in my Department who are engaged in the formulation of the various Budget proposals and ongoing review of schemes have access to a very wide range of information. Staff work closely with the Statistics Unit in my Department and also with the relevant areas in the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure that all proposals are based on the most up to date information available.
Section 10 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 requires that the Minister for Social Protection undertakes an actuarial review of the Social Insurance Fund at five year intervals. The Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund at 31 December 2010, carried out by KPMG Actuarial Services and which was completed during 2012, examined the position of the Fund at the end of 2010.
The 2010 review was undertaken to update the results of the 2005 review taking into account policy and demographic changes in the period since the previous review was undertaken. In particular, it provided updated projections in relation to income and expenditure and also break-even contributions rates. The period of the review was 56 years from 2011 to 2066 inclusive. The evidence from the review was used to inform the decision making process in relation to various Budgets and other policy proposals. One of the deliverables from the 2010 Review was the provision of a model to the Department which would enable the long-term costing and assessment of possible policy changes. I am satisfied that this model together with all the other sources of relevant information available to my officials enables us to make informed decisions on the setting of both contributions and rates of benefit on an ongoing basis.
146. Deputy Arthur Spring asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the position regarding a domiciliary care allowance review in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34440/14]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 22nd January 2014. The application was not allowed as the child was not considered to satisfy the qualifying conditions for the allowance. A letter issued on the 31st March 2014 advising of the decision.
The person concerned subsequently requested a review of the decision and supplied additional information on two occasions. Her application was reviewed by different Medical Assessors, once on the 22nd May 2014 and the other on the 10th September. Having examined all the information supplied, the medical assessors advised that in their opinion the child was not medically eligible for the allowance.
Having reviewed the application in its entirety, the deciding officer considered that a revision of the original decision was not warranted and confirmed this in writing on the 12th September 2014. The person concerned has also been advised of her right to appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.
147. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the total amounts awarded under the telephone allowance portion of the household benefits package for each year of its operation until its abolition; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34441/14]
View answerThe Telephone Allowance was discontinued with effect from 01 Jan 2014. The costs of the Telephone Allowance scheme had risen each year previously until the allowance amount had changed and the number of eligible customers had increased significantly. In 2007 there were some 316,000 people receiving the Telephone Allowance, at the end of 2013 there are almost 400,000, an increase of 24%. Each year almost 10,000 extra customers became eligible for the allowance because of the increased number of pension recipients.
In recent years the nature of the telephone market has been transformed with deregulation, mobile services and bundled services including television, broadband and telephone. The original notion of an allowance covering handset rental, standing charges and a number of calls is now somewhat outdated. There is a wide variety of deals available. For example, it is possible to get a standard pay-as-you-go brand name mobile telephone for as little as €19.99 in large retailers.
Therefore, on examining the Household Benefits Scheme, I felt that retaining the other elements of the package such as the Electricity/Gas Allowance and the Television Licence as far as possible would be more valuable to recipients. My Department is also protecting the Free Travel pass for older people and people with disabilities.
My Department will spend an estimated €229,880,000 in 2014 on the remaining elements of the Household Benefits Package for over 400,000 customers.
Telephone Expenditure for 2004-2013
|
Year |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
Telephone allowance payments in millions |
85,697 |
89,143 |
90,333 |
98,855 |
112,190 |
120,180 |
118,579 |
111,961 |
113,772 |
52,227 |
148. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will maintain the funding for farm assist in the forthcoming budget; if she will restore income and child disregards to their pre-budget 2013 levels and assess the means test on the current income position rather than on a historical 12 month basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34446/14]
View answerFarm Assist is a means-tested income support scheme for farmers. To qualify for Farm Assist, a person must be a farmer, farming land in the State, aged between 18 and 66 and satisfy a means test. There were just over 10,300 recipients of farm assist at end December last and nearly €99.5 million was spent on the scheme in 2013.
The farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker’s allowance and was introduced in 1999 to replace ‘Smallholders Unemployment Assistance’ for low income farmers. 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.
The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income 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.
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 their claim.
The scheme, including the recent changes, is kept under review. Any changes to the scheme would be a matter for Government to consider in a budgetary context.
152. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her plans to cap the period a participant can remain on the rural social scheme to three years; if this is under consideration; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34537/14]
View answer153. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will double the number of places on the rural social scheme from its current number of 2600 to 5200 as the RSS continues to be a vital support to low income farmers in areas where job opportunities are limited; if she will ensure that the ongoing review of this scheme will allow for flexibility in implementation as the training requirements of a social employment scheme in agriculture differ from those in more general employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34600/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 152 and 153 together.
The rural social scheme provides income support for farmers and those engaged in fishing who have an entitlement to specified social welfare payments. Participants are engaged for 19½ hours per week to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities. The scheme currently provides work opportunities for around 2,600 participants and 130 supervisory staff. The funds allocated for 2014 amount to €45 million. This level of funding will allow the scheme to continue along the same lines in 2014 as in previous years but does not allow for the recruitment above the numbers stated above.
As with all schemes, the Department is required to ensure that the RSS remains effective, provides value for money and is in line with other Government policies. A Focused Policy Assessment on the scheme was carried out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the results were published earlier this year. The Department is examining the conclusions made in the Assessment, together with the recommendations contained in the Review of Employment Support Schemes which was published by the Department in 2013. This is with a view to determining the measures that need to be implemented to improve the delivery and focus of the RSS, whilst ensuring continued support for the provision of services across rural areas.
The operation of the rural social scheme is governed by a comprehensive set of rules which are revised on an on-going basis as a result of changes in the operating environment and the introduction of, or changes to, other schemes or other conditions that impact on the scheme’s operations.
154. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when jobseeker's allowance will reissue in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34616/14]
View answerThe jobseekers allowance of the person concerned was suspended on the 17/07/2014 as the Department became aware that she was no longer at her address. She last received a payment from the Community Welfare Service in Celbridge on 07/08/2014. The person concerned should provide proof of her current address to her local social welfare office and a review of her claim will be undertaken as soon as possible. If the person concerned is currently homeless she should contact her local Community Welfare Officer who will discuss her options with her.
155. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the reason rent support has been stopped in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; if rent support will be reinstated as a matter of urgency. [34645/14]
View answerFollowing a review of the client’s rent supplement in September 2013, his rent was found to be in excess of the maximum rent limit applicable to his family composition and location. The client was allotted the statutory duration of 13 weeks and an additional 10 weeks, until 31 March 2014, to have his rent reduced or seek alternative accommodation.
