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 €27.9m for exceptional and urgent needs payments in 2015.
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.
Statistics are not maintained by county on the number of applications for ENPs or the outcome of those applications. Detail of the number of payments under the ENP scheme for the years 2010 to 2014 is set out in the following tabular statement. A breakdown by county is not available for the period from 2010 to 2012 but is provided for 2013 and 2014. As requested, these statistics exclude ENP5 code payments which relate to back to school clothing and footwear allowance payments.
ENP cases are reviewed by review officers within the community welfare service. Statistics are not maintained regarding the number of reviews undertaken or their outcome.
Tabular Statement
Number of Exceptional Needs Payments made by year excluding ENP5 payments
|
Year
|
Number of Payments
|
|
2010
|
218,000
|
|
2011
|
226,200
|
|
2012
|
196,837
|
|
2013
|
132,629
|
|
2014
|
107,307
|
Number of Exceptional Needs Payments by County for 2013 and 2014 excluding ENP5 payments
|
County
|
2013
|
2014
|
|
Carlow
|
1,882
|
1,247
|
|
Cavan
|
1,052
|
788
|
|
Clare
|
1,841
|
1,602
|
|
Cork
|
10,290
|
9,709
|
|
Donegal
|
1,767
|
1,533
|
|
Dublin
|
59,901
|
46,609
|
|
Galway
|
3,989
|
2,648
|
|
Kerry
|
2,366
|
2,049
|
|
Kildare
|
6,584
|
4,377
|
|
Kilkenny
|
2,615
|
2,144
|
|
Laois
|
2,645
|
3,401
|
|
Leitrim
|
733
|
817
|
|
Limerick
|
4,856
|
4,339
|
|
Longford
|
1,020
|
1,102
|
|
Louth
|
1,702
|
1,505
|
|
Mayo
|
2,807
|
1,673
|
|
Meath
|
4,051
|
3,129
|
|
Monaghan
|
591
|
571
|
|
Offaly
|
1,217
|
1,268
|
|
Roscommon
|
1,502
|
845
|
|
Sligo
|
1,794
|
1,499
|
|
Tipperary
|
7,081
|
5,757
|
|
Waterford
|
2,409
|
2,581
|
|
Westmeath
|
2,123
|
2,251
|
|
Wexford
|
2,191
|
1,313
|
|
Wicklow
|
3,620
|
2,550
|
|
Total
|
132,629
|
107,307
|
