Tuesday, 3 Feb 2015

Written Answers Nos. 209-226

Community Employment Schemes Operation

Questions (209)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

209. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 184 of 4 November 2014 and in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 22 who was in dispute with the community employment sponsor, the role her Department has in cases where the person believes their representations to the sponsor and her Department have not been adequately dealt with; the mechanisms in place to deal with disputes between community employment participants and sponsors or her Department; her Department's policy on evidence required from participants relating to fitness to work; and the rights participants have to access information relating to them held by the sponsor organisations or her Department. [4832/15]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

The issues raised by the person concerned related to his employment, his employer in this case being the Community Employment (CE) sponsor. The Department has no role in relation to the employment of staff participating on CE. As provided for in the Contract Agreement between the Department and a CE Sponsoring Body; CE employers are at all times an independent contractor for all purposes and all persons recruited by the sponsors are their responsibility. The CE procedures manual provides that if there is a dispute between a CE participant and the employer this needs to be resolved between both parties through the employer’s grievance procedure. Furthermore it is open to the person concerned, if he wishes, to seek redress through the various dispute resolution forum such as the Labour Relations Commission.

In relation to sick leave, the CE procedures manual provides that:

- For certified sick leave: “Each participant is eligible to claim up to 56 hours certified sick leave during their 52 weeks of participation for which DSP provides grant support. Payments to any participant on certified sick leave beyond this will not be granted-aided by DSP. All medical/doctor certificates must be available for inspection by DSP until the audit is completed. If an instance of sick leave extends beyond 6 consecutive days (from 6th January 2014), an application can be made for Illness Benefit using the application form (MC1) supplied by the GP who furnished the medical certificate”.

- For uncertified sick leave “There is no provision for grant payment in such circumstances. However, the local DSP Officer may exercise some discretion in relation to a participant on uncertified sick leave. Payment may not, in any circumstances, exceed 2 working days (i.e. 8 hours total) in any 12-month period for any participant.”.

Participants can access personal information held by the Department if they request it in writing or through the FOI process. Access to personal information held by a CE sponsor is a matter for them.

Social Insurance Payments

Questions (210)

Maureen O'Sullivan

Question:

210. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to set out her views on the risk and if she will acknowledge the challenge in moving from unemployment to self-employment by considering an arrangement where self-employed persons contributing to social insurance fund at class S would be entitled to one jobseeker’s benefit claim, in other words, on the same basis as for class A contributors, but extending to no more than 15 months over the course of their career in self-employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4835/15]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which entitles them to access long-term benefits such as State pension (contributory) and widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's pension (contributory) as well as maternity benefit, adoptive benefit and guardians payment (contributory).

Self-employed workers may also access social welfare supports by establishing eligibility to assistance-based payments such as jobseeker’s allowance and disability allowance. In the case of jobseeker’s allowance they can apply for the means-tested jobseeker’s allowance if their business ceases or if they are on low income as a result of a downturn in demand for their services.

In September 2013, I published the report of the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare on Extending Social Insurance Coverage for the self-employed. The Group was asked to examine and report on issues involved in extending social insurance coverage for self-employed people in order to establish whether or not such cover is technically feasible and financially sustainable, with the requirement that any proposals for change must be cost neutral.

The Group found that the current system of means tested jobseeker’s allowance payments adequately provides cover to self-employed people for the risks associated with unemployment. In this context, the Group noted that almost 9 out of every 10 self-employed people who claimed the means tested jobseeker’s allowance during the three-year period from 2009 to 2011 received payment. Consequently, the Group was not convinced that there was a need for the extension of social insurance for the self-employed to provide cover for jobseeker’s benefit.

On the basis of the findings of the report of the Advisory Group I am satisfied that the self-employed have adequate access to income support in the event of business failure. There are no plans to change provision in this area.

Rent Supplement Scheme Administration

Questions (211, 212, 213, 219)

Maureen O'Sullivan

Question:

211. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to set out the amount expended on rent allowance in each of the years from 2008 to 2013, inclusive, for Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and south County Dublin local authorities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4836/15]

Maureen O'Sullivan

Question:

212. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she is satisfied that people at risk of homelessness in the greater Dublin area, that is, Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and south County Dublin, are treated no less favourably on the basis of the local authority they happen to be dealing with; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4837/15]

Maureen O'Sullivan

Question:

213. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to outline her views in respect of whether, when providing statistics on a local authority basis, her Department should provide figures separately, and generally, for each of the four Dublin local authority areas, that is, Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and south County Dublin, rather than aggregating same, in view of the fact that no other sets of local authority areas are aggregated for statistical purposes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4838/15]

Seán Kyne

Question:

219. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if the rent supplement payment is permitted if the owner of the property is the son or daughter of the resident and potential recipient of the payment. [4949/15]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection

I propose to take Questions Nos. 211 to 213, inclusive, and 219 together.

The rent supplement scheme provides 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.

There are approximately 71,500 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015. Rent supplement recipients and expenditure each year since 2008 is provided in the attached tabular statement. A county breakdown by recipients is also provided for 2014. The Department does not maintain statistics on rent supplement on a housing authority basis. Statistical reporting on a housing authority basis is a matter for my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Under the legislation governing entitlement to rent supplement, the Department must establish that the applicant is a bona fide tenant. There is no specific restriction on landlords renting to family members provided all of the qualifying criteria for the scheme have been met. In determining whether the applicant is a bona fide tenant the Department will generally require documentary evidence including:

- Details of the lease agreement,

- Proof of ownership of the property,

- Documentation that the tenancy has been registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board,

- Documentation detailing payments made to the landlord.

In view of the current supply difficulties in the private rented sector, the Department has put a number of measures in place to support rent supplement recipients at risk of homelessness through increased flexibility within the administration of the rent supplement scheme. The Interim Tenancy Sustainment Protocol introduced in the Dublin region during 2014, has provided support for some 340 families to date through increased rental payments.

Engagement with the various Dublin housing authorities by individuals at risk of homelessness is also a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Table 1: Rent Supplement End of Year Recipient Numbers & Expenditure: 2008 to 2014

Year	Recipients	Cost €000
2008	74,038	440,548
2009	93,030	510,751
2010	97,260	516,538
2011	96,803	502,747
2012	87,684	422,536
2013	79,788	372,909
2014	71,533	338,135

2014 Revised Estimate

Table 2: Rent Supplement by County, December 2014

COUNTY	RECIPIENTS
CARLOW	1,086
CAVAN	414
CLARE	1,336
CORK	8,273
DONEGAL	1,812
DUBLIN	26,453
GALWAY	3,591
KERRY	1,736
KILDARE	3,698
KILKENNY	1,011
LAOIS	1,008
LEITRIM	324
LIMERICK	2,461
LONGFORD	476
LOUTH	2,211
MAYO	1,619
MEATH	1,726
MONAGHAN	352
OFFALY	1,041
ROSCOMMON	687
SLIGO	451
TIPPERARY	1,961
WATERFORD	1,443
WESTMEATH	1,533
WEXFORD	2,700
WICKLOW	2,130
Total	71,533

Social Insurance Refunds

Questions (214)

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

214. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will report on the current one-year backlog for processing PRSI refunds; and the measures that will be put in place to ensure citizens receive entitled refunds in a timely manner. [4889/15]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications for PRSI refunds are processed as quickly as possible.

I am aware of the backlog in claims for PRSI refunds and my Department is actively working on reducing this backlog. If the Deputy has a particular case that he wishes to query I would be happy to have my officials look into it.

Question No. 215 withdrawn.

Community Employment Schemes Eligibility

Questions (216)

Willie O'Dea

Question:

216. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to reports that the community employment and employment services programmes are now only accepting persons on training if they can confirm they have a job secured when they leave the training; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4939/15]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection

The eligibility criteria for community employment (CE) is published on the Department’s website – www.welfare.ie. There is no requirement to “have a job secured” prior to commencing a CE placement, indeed if the applicant had a job secured this would prohibit them from participating on CE as the criteria for entry for the majority of clients is to be unemployed for a minimum of 1 year. As the Deputy is aware, the purpose of CE is to prepare jobseekers for employment.

Water Conservation Grant

Questions (217)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

217. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to set out the total anticipated cost of the water conservation grant to her Department including any additional administration requirements and so on; if she will provide a breakdown of these costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4941/15]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

The Department of Social Protection will administer, on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, a €100 water conservation grant for households that complete a valid response to Irish Water’s customer registration process. The grant will be paid to the registered householders annually, in respect of their primary dwellings, with the first payment to be paid in September 2015 and each subsequent year up to and including 2018.

The Department is in consultation with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with regard to the staffing and funding required to administer the scheme. The administration and payment of this grant represents a significant project for the Department of Social Protection. The Department is currently carrying out a scoping exercise to explore the most effective and efficient approach to its implementation. This will include estimates of resources required to undertake the initial work involved and ongoing administration of the grant.

Question No. 218 withdrawn.

Question No. 219 answered with Question No. 211.

Questions Nos. 220 and 221 withdrawn.

Community Employment Schemes Places

Questions (222)

Brendan Griffin

Question:

222. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if there will be an adequate training budget to meet the three-year training requirements for participants in health and social care services community employment schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4961/15]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

The Department hopes to commence rolling out a new Health and Social Care Programme for CE participants during the course of this year. This programme will ensure participants have access to qualifications in the health and social care sector in order to take up employment opportunities in this area and to support local service delivery. The Department has been consulting with key stakeholders and service providers in this sector in preparation for the implementation of the programme and on-going support will be provided to the CE Sponsoring Organisations who manage these schemes.

As part of the programme, it is intended that CE participants who work directly with service users in the health and social care sector, will be provided with a dedicated programme comprising formal learning and supervised work experience. This programme will lead to a FETAC Level 5 Major Award in the health and social care sector which is the minimum entry requirement for a social care practitioner.

Work on rolling out the programme and finalising what training budget will be required to support it will continue over the coming months.

Community Employment Schemes Places

Questions (223)

Brendan Griffin

Question:

223. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if the positions of participants on community employment schemes in the health and social care area remain with the existing main sponsor groups, as is the current situation throughout the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4962/15]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection

The Department hopes to commence rolling out a new Health and Social Care Programme for CE participants during the course of this year. The programme will ensure that participants have adequate access to qualifications in the health and social care sector in order to take up employment opportunities in this area and to support local service delivery. The Department has been consulting with key stakeholders and service providers in this sector in preparation for the roll-out of the programme, and this will continue. On-going support will be provided to the CE Sponsoring Organisations who manage these schemes throughout the process.

The main consideration in determining this approach is to ensure that CE participants who are working directly with service users are adequately trained and receive the appropriate supervision that pertains to this sector.

Question No. 224 withdrawn.

Public Services Card Provision

Questions (225)

David Stanton

Question:

225. Deputy David Stanton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 17 and 30 of 5 March 2014, the progress that has been made with the roll-out of the new public services card to social welfare recipients; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5020/15]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

The purpose of the Public Services Card (PSC) to enable individuals to gain access to public services more efficiently and with a minimum of duplication of effort, while at the same time preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible.

The PSC is designed to replace other cards within the public sector such as the free travel pass and the social services card of this Department and to make it easy for providers of public services to verify the identity of customers.

Considerable progress continues to be made in the roll out of the Public Service Card. Approximately 1,190,000 cards have now been produced. These include approximately 343,000 PSC Free Travel variants.

Face-to-Face registration is taking place countrywide in 89 offices of the Department for individual applicants for a Personal Public Service (PPS) Number and people applying for or in receipt of social protection payments or benefits, including Jobseeker payments, Free Travel entitlement, Child Benefit payments, State Pensions, and One Parent Family payments.

Selected low-risk customers have also been invited to avail of postal registration processes which involves either the utilisation, with consent, of information already provided to other Government agencies, (for example, a photograph supplied in connection with an application for a passport), or, in the case of selected pensioners over 66 who collect their payments at a Post Office, the provision of passport-standard photographs.

The PSC project has been earmarked as a key initiative in the Public Service Reform Plan with the aim to “expand the use of the PSC to cover a greater range of services”. PSC registration is being expanded to encompass all Departmental scheme customers and over time, the adult population of Ireland.

Community Welfare Services Provision

Questions (226)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

226. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection whether front-line services provided by her Department to the individual citizen have suffered dramatically, given that many urban centres are without community welfare officer access and rely instead on a telephone number which is often not answered; whether she is aware that many persons attempting to make contact with CWOs are doing so in distressing situations; whether communication with these citizens has fallen to an unacceptable level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5024/15]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection

Following the transfer of the Community Welfare Service (CWS) from the Health Service Executive to the Department in 2011, the Department has re-engineered its business model to support the provision of integrated services across all business streams involved in the delivery of localised services. As part of this strategy, the Department is engaged in the delivery of integrated Intreo centres, which provide a full range of services, including the CWS, generally available in one location.

I am satisfied that where the service has been re-structured, alternative arrangements have been put in place to ensure that customers are provided with on-going access to the supports provided by the CWS. In general, the frequency and staffing levels of public clinics has increased providing customers improved access to services. If a person is unable to travel to a clinic, for example due to illness, alternative arrangements can be put place including arranging a visit to the client’s home if necessary.

People claiming supports under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme generally only interact with the Department on an occasional basis, for example, when seeking an exceptional needs payment or in claiming additional supports such as rent supplement, which are usually reviewed once to twice yearly.

The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continuously reviewed, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department. If the Deputy is aware of a difficulty which may have arisen in relation to a specific case she should bring the matter to the attention of the Department.