Written Answers Nos. 159 - 178
159. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a decision on a review of a disability allowance will issue in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24623/15]
View answerThe application, based upon the evidence submitted, was refused on medical grounds and the person in question was notified in writing of this decision on 27 March 2015.
Further medical evidence was received in this case and is currently being processed. The person concerned can expect a decision on the review of his disability allowance application shortly.
160. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the progress to date in the determining an application for disability allowance for a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24637/15]
View answerI confirm that the Department is in receipt of an application for disability allowance from the above named person on 6 May 2015. On completion of the necessary investigations on all aspects of the claim a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome. A decision in this case is expected to issue shortly.
The processing time for individual disability allowance claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main qualifying criteria, the person’s circumstances and the information they provide in support of their claim.
161. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will urgently expedite an application for a disability allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry, as all relevant documentation has been submitted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24646/15]
View answerThe person concerned is currently in receipt of disability allowance.
162. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Cork is in receipt of arrears under the disability allowance scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24647/15]
View answerDisability allowance arrears will issue to the person in question in the next few days.
163. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a decision on a disability allowance will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24665/15]
View answerThe application for disability allowance (DA) from the person in question was disallowed on 21 May 2015 on two grounds, firstly that he does not satisfy the medical conditions for the scheme and, secondly, that he failed to demonstrate that his means do not exceed the statutory limit in his case.
The person concerned was advised of the option to submit additional documentation and/or evidence for review and of his right to lodge an appeal directly to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. To date neither option has been exercised.
164. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a decision on a domiciliary care allowance will issue in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24680/15]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 11th May 2015. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Following receipt of this opinion, a decision will be made by a Deciding Officer and notified to the person concerned. It can currently take 12 weeks to process an application for DCA.
165. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will urgently expedite an application for a disability allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24691/15]
View answerThe application, based upon the evidence submitted, was refused on medical grounds and the person in question was notified in writing of this decision on 12 May 2015.
Further medical evidence was received in this case and is currently being processed. The person concerned can expect a decision on the review of his disability allowance application shortly.
167. Deputy Emmet Stagg asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will expedite an application for a disability allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare, who will lose a one-parent family payment on 24 June 2015. [24731/15]
View answerThe person in question has been awarded a disability allowance payment with effect from 24 June 2015 as she is financially better off to remain on her current payment to this date. First payment will be on 24 June 2015.
168. Deputy Emmet Stagg asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will ensure a review of half-rate carer's allowance is dealt with as early as possible, as the review is a result of the carer (details supplied) in County Kildare reaching 16 years of age. [24732/15]
View answerThe person concerned is currently in receipt of half-rate carer’s allowance in addition to her primary payment, one-parent family payment. This payment is due to end once the child is 16 years of age on 22 June 2015.
When the one-parent family payment is stopped the Carer’s allowance rate of payment will be increased to full rate from the 25th of June 2015. Any arrears of allowance due to the person concerned will also issue.
169. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 80 and 81 of 6 May 2015, where she stated that information on rent supplement arrears due to recalculation of means were not available, if the information is now to hand; if she will provide the numbers of persons who have had their rent supplement rates recalculated down; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24737/15]
View answerThere are approximately 68,000 rent supplement recipients, of which over 25,400 are in Dublin, for which the Government has provided a total of over €298 million for in 2015.
Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant; the tenant makes the application for rent supplement and payment is generally made to the tenant to assist them with their accommodation needs. There is no direct contractual relationship between the landlord and the Department in the administration of the scheme. Therefore, statistics in relation to persons in rent arrears are not available to the Department.
It is open to any landlord to bring to the attention of the Department any instance where they suspect that a tenant is receiving rent supplement and is not paying their rent. Where the Department becomes aware that a person is not using rent supplement to meet the accommodation costs, payment of the supplement may be suspended and the matter investigated.
Statistics are not maintained regarding the number of rent supplement reviews undertaken or their outcome.
170. Deputy Emmet Stagg asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will expedite an application for a disability allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare whose domiciliary care allowance ceased on 16 June 2015. [24740/15]
View answerI confirm that the Department is in receipt of an application for disability allowance from the above named person on 29 April 2015. On completion of the necessary investigations on all aspects of the claim a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome. A decision is expected to issue in this case shortly.
The processing time for individual disability allowance claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main qualifying criteria, the person’s circumstances and the information they provide in support of their claim.
171. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when the roll out of JobPath will commence; and the cost, to date, of the roll-out, including consultation, tendering and preparation. [24773/15]
View answerJobPath is the Government’s new labour market activation service aimed specifically at long-term unemployed jobseekers and those new jobseekers most distant from the labour market, with the primary objective of assisting such persons to secure sustained full-time paid employment.
JobPath will be delivered by two companies – Seetec Limited and Turas Nua Limited. JobPath will augment and complement the Department’s existing employment service capacity as well as that of the Local Employment Service (LES) and Job Clubs, which already operate under contract to the Department, thereby increasing capacity to provide supports to assist jobseekers in obtaining employment.
Subject to the satisfactory completion of the necessary IT development work to support JobPath, it is expected that the roll-out will commence, on a phased basis, during the summer months with the objective of having JobPath fully operational nationwide by October/November.
The JobPath companies are responsible for their own initial costs. The Department retained the services of the London based Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion who provided expert advice and assistance with the design and delivery of the JobPath model as well as with the evaluation of tenders. This was at a total cost of Eur191,684 including VAT. It is not possible to determine other costs associated with JobPath that have arisen within the department and within other bodies, such as the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and the National Development Finance Agency, as it not possible to disaggregate these costs for overall administrative costs.
172. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to a previous Parliamentary Question, if she will confirm the status of an application for a disability allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [24821/15]
View answerIn order to determine the circumstances of the person concerned, his file was forwarded to his local Social Welfare Inspector (SWI). The SWI has completed her enquiries in this case and is compiling her report for the deciding officer (DO).
A decision on entitlement to disability allowance will be made as soon as possible following receipt by the DO of the of the SWI’s report. The person in question will be notified directly of the outcome.
174. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on an application for a widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24826/15]
View answerFollowing a decision by the Social Welfare Appeals Office on the application of the person concerned for widows non - contributory pension, the person’s widows contributory pension application is being reviewed by a Deciding Officer.
When this review is complete, the person concerned will be notified of the decision. In the meantime, the person concerned will continue to receive their widows non-contributory pension payment.
175. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will report on the current status of changes to the one-parent family payment; the number of recipients; the number on transitional payments; her plans to address the lack of affordable child care and other impacts, in relation to family income supplement and rent supplement, arising from the changes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24625/15]
View answerExpenditure on the one parent family payment scheme is estimated to be €607 million in 2015 with almost 70,000 recipients.
However, despite considerable investment, the scheme has not succeeded in preventing lone parents from being significantly more at risk of consistent poverty than the population as a whole.
The final phase of the OFP age reforms are due to take place on 2 July 2015 when approximately 29,400 OFP recipients will be transitioning out of the OFP scheme. Approximately 19,800 are expected to transition to the jobseeker’s transitional payment, 4,100 to jobseeker’s allowance (JA) and 5,500 to a re-rated family income supplement (FIS).
The 5,500 customers already on FIS will have their payment automatically increased to take account of the loss of 60% of their OFP income and have received letters to that effect. All remaining customers were invited to attend information sessions in their local Intreo offices where they were advised of the different options available to them when they transition from the OFP scheme. At these information sessions, staff of the Department informed lone parents that the most financially advantageous option available to them was to work a minimum of 19 hours per week and claim FIS.
On foot of these information sessions, estimates suggest that to date over 1,250 of these lone parents have become first time FIS recipients. This means these individuals have either taken up employment or have increased their existing hours of employment to claim FIS.
The 1,250 lone parents who are new FIS recipients are now financially better off than when they were claiming the one-parent family payment. These customers will also qualify for the new back to work family dividend (BTWFD) from 2 July. The Dividend is worth €1,550 per child in the first year and reducing to 50% entitlement worth €775 per child in the second year.
Approximately 5,000 of the customers transitioning from OFP in July are also in receipt of the rent supplement. These customers will be able to have their supplement reviewed on foot of the changes in their overall income. Where a customer has incurred an overall loss this review may result in an increase in their rent supplement and likewise for customers who gain overall their rent supplement may be reduced, assuming their circumstances have not otherwise changed. It is important to note that rent supplement is a means tested payment and is calculated to ensure that the person’s income, after the payment of their rent, is equal to the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) rate, less a specified weekly minimum contribution. The weekly minimum contribution is €30 for a single adult household.
Child care policy, including the delivery and/or expansion of child care services, is the responsibility of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA).
The reforms to the OFP scheme have highlighted the need for child care supports to be available for lone parents who make the transition into employment. My Department in conjunction with the DCYA introduced the after-school child care scheme and the community employment childcare programme in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Both of these schemes were funded by my Department from savings from the child benefit scheme and build on the 25,000 subsidised childcare places provided by the DCYA each year.
The DCYA has also established an inter-Departmental group at senior level to carry out an economic and cost-benefit analysis of policies and future options for increasing the supply, accessibility, and affordability of quality child care, including early years and school-age care. This group is led by the DCYA and includes representatives from a number of Departments including the Department of Social Protection. It is due to report this summer.
176. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when arrears of an invalidity pension will issue in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24859/15]
View answerThe person concerned has been awarded the personal rate of invalidity pension (IP) with effect from 19 June 2014. Payment will issue to her nominated bank account on the 09 July 2015. The person in question was notified of this decision on the 22 June 2015.
The person concerned has applied for an increase for a qualified adult and qualified children. This entitlement is currently being assessed and when finalised and the person concerned will be notified directly of the decision. Any arrears due from 19 June 2014 to 08 July 2015 (less any overlapping social welfare payment and/or outstanding overpayment) will issue in due course.
177. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will approve and expedite an application for a domiciliary care allowance by a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24880/15]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 22nd May 2015. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Following receipt of this opinion, a decision will be made by a Deciding Officer and notified to the person concerned. It can currently take 12 weeks to process an application for DCA.
