Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2015
191. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if there are persons still in receipt of dual social welfare payments; if so, if she will provide a breakdown of which payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7921/15]
View answerI can confirm that there are persons still in receipt of dual social welfare payments (i.e. concurrent community employment (CE) allowances and certain social welfare payments).
Budget 2012 announced the disqualification from certain payments while participating on CE. Up until 16th January 2012, certain social welfare payments could be retained in part or in full while participating on CE. These retained social welfare payments were:
- One Parent Family Payment
- Deserted Wife’s Benefit
- Widow(er)s Pension
- Illness Benefit
- Disability Allowance
- Invalidity Pension
- Blind Pension
This cessation of dual payments did not apply to the above categories in receipt of welfare payments that were already on CE on commencement of the legislation.
The breakdown of payments includes those concurrently in receipt of disability allowance, invalidity pension and one parent family payment (all of whom commenced CE prior to 16th January 2012). The figure at the 1st of January 2015 was 778 concurrent payment recipients broken down as follows:
Concurrent payment recipients
|
Carers Allowance |
1 |
|
Disability Allowance |
292 |
|
Illness Benefit |
6 |
|
Invalidity Pension |
334 |
|
One Parent Family Payment |
4 |
|
Widow(er)'s Contributory Pension |
141 |
|
Grand Total |
778 |
