Written Answers Nos. 41-50
41. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her Department's views on illness benefit and proposed changes (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42548/14]
View answerThe Recovery of Benefits and Assistance (RBA) scheme commenced on 1 August 2014 and requires that a compensator (generally an insurance company) must apply for a statement of recoverable benefits, before making a payment to an injured person in respect of a non-fatal personal injury.
Where there is a specified benefit paid within a specified period consequent on the personal injury, the compensator is liable to pay the Minister part or all of the recoverable benefit amount depending on whether the case is settled out of court, or the award is a result of a court order or Injuries Board assessment. It is the compensator and not the injured person who must pay the Minister.
I can assure the Deputy there is ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the RBA scheme, and any possible changes to the scheme will be considered in the light of operational experience.
43. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when jobseeker's allowance will be restored in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42553/14]
View answerThe person concerned made a jobseeker's allowance claim on the 26/05/2014. The person concerned was requested to provide certain information to support his application but failed to supply all information requested. His claim was disallowed as his means could not be established. The person concerned has appealed this disallowance and his file has been forwarded from the Local Office to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. The person concerned will be advised of the outcome of the appeal once this process has been completed.
44. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will facilitate access to jobseeker's allowance in the interim in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42564/14]
View answerThe person concerned made a jobseeker's allowance claim and was requested to furnish documentation to assess his entitlement to a payment, by letters on the 17/09/2014 and 22/10/2014. The claim cannot be processed until this documentation is received. It is open to the person concerned to contact his local office with any queries arising.
45. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Kildare qualifies for back to education allowance in view of their current status in receipt of disability allowance and their proposal to take up a VTOS, vocational training opportunities scheme, course; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42566/14]
View answerThe Department has written to the person concerned on 30 October 2014 concerning their enquiry regarding potential eligibility to Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) and to ask that the person in question have the BTEA application form completed and stamped by the school/college. The entitlement of the person in question will be determined on receipt of this information and they will be notified directly of the outcome.
46. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when guardianship payment will be restored in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42568/14]
View answerThe person concerned was awarded guardian’s payment (contributory) from 25 January 2013 and received payment until 6 March 2014, as according to the records of the Department, the child concerned reached 18 years of age on 7 March 2014.
Guardian’s payment, where eligibility is established, is payable until the child concerned reaches 18 years of age and is payable between the ages of 18 and 22 where the child concerned is in full time education by day, at a recognised educational facility.
In this regard, a certificate for completion by the relevant school or college attended by the child was issued to the person concerned in January 2014, in advance of the child’s 18 birthday. A completed certificate has not yet been received.
Guardian’s entitlement will be re-examined on provision of a completed certificate, which must bear the stamp of the relevant school or college attended by the child concerned.
47. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the position regarding a disability allowance payment in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42583/14]
View answerI confirm we received a request on 17 October 2014 for review of their disability allowance entitlement from the person concerned and this request is currently being processed. A decision on this review is expected to issue shortly directly to the person concerned.
48. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if her Department has finalised its agreement to exchange personal public service, PPS, number information with Irish Water; if there is a statutory basis for the collection and retention of PPS numbers before such an agreement is reached; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42604/14]
View answerThe legal basis of the PPS Number and its use is contained in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended). Only bodies specified in statute or their agents can use the PPS Number. Section 262 of the Act allows the PPS Number to be used by a specified body in certain limited ways in the course of a “transaction” with a member of the public. The section requires that the service being supplied must relate to a “natural person" i.e. not a private function by a private company.
Persons are required by section 262 to provide their PPS Numbers to Specified Bodies for the purpose of a "transaction".
The section also allows the Minister for Social Protection to share a person’s public service identity (including their PPS Number) with a Specified Body for authentication purposes. Accordingly, as both the Minister for Social Protection and all Specified Bodies must operate in accordance with the provisions of the Act, there is no requirement for a separate agreement to be in place.
Section 20 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014, which was enacted on the 17 July 2014, added Irish Water to the list of Specified Bodies. Irish Water has advised that PPS Numbers will only be processed by it in relation to confirming eligibility for allowances and accurately calculating water charges. Irish Water has posted information about its use of the PPS Number on the Register of PPS Number Users which is available on the Department of Social Protection website.
The Department is in discussions with Irish Water with regard to the appropriate assistance that can be given in relation to validation of PPS Number data.
50. Deputy John Halligan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to her reply to Priority Questions on 21 October 2014 that on average rent allowance applications made in County Waterford are being processed on average within five to ten days, if she will confirm the number of rent allowance applications received within the first six months of 2014; the percentage of those applications that were processed and approved within five to ten days; the percentage that took in excess of three months to process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41205/14]
View answerThe purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer.
The average number of claimants on the rent supplement scheme for 2014 to date in payment is approximately 76,200 with an average annualised cost to the State of €4,450 representing €344 million which has been provided for the scheme in 2014.
Waterford, represents 2% of the total recipient base with approximately 1,400 tenancies currently in receipt of rent supplement. At an average annual cost of €3,000, total forecast rent supplement costs for Waterford will be in region of €4.2 million.
The scheme’s cost per tenancy and related volume of recipients clearly suggests that the Department has a duty of care to ensure the legitimacy of tenancies presenting to the scheme. This includes not only verifying the existence of a tenancy, but the amount of rent required and an assessment of a person's means.
The timescale for determining applications for rent supplement is dependent, among other things, on the availability of the required information, such as confirmation of a Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) by the relevant Local Authority, where applicable; details of the applicant’s income and bank statements; and verification of the tenancy arrangements. Some aspects of the application process are inevitably time-consuming and delays can occur where investigations such as home visits or third party evidence are required. As outlined to the Deputy in response to parliamentary question 40164 on 21 October 2014, when the necessary information required to process an application is provided to the Department, a rent supplement claim will be processed within a short timeframe, approximately 5 to 10 days.
In the first six months of 2014, a total of 488 applications for rent supplement were registered in Waterford. An analysis of those claims currently still open indicates that 19% were processed and approved within 10 days of registration and 29% took more than 3 months to be processed and approved due to the investigation process and lack of required documentation. An additional 16% are awaiting decision, but cannot be approved as the Department is still waiting on information from the customer to enable a decision to be made.
