The Department is engaging with officials in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG) regarding the ongoing roll-out and transfer of long-term rent supplement recipients to the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). To date, HAP is being rolled out in 18 local authority areas with some 4,800 tenancies in place, including Kildare, where HAP was recently introduced from 2 November 2015.
At this time, rent supplement continues to play a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 63,000 people at a cost of €298 million in 2015, which represents a transfer of funding in excess of €20 million to DECLG to support HAP.
The Department continues to examine the operation of all its services, including the administration of the Community Welfare Service (CWS), in the context of the efficient delivery of services nationally. Where the CWS 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 Department. In the event that a customer has difficulty attending a clinic, for example due to illness, there is the facility to phone the CWS and, if required, a visit to the client’s residence may be arranged.
The Department has developed a comprehensive Workforce Plan, in which the staffing needs for all business areas are reviewed regularly, including those administering rent supplement. As part of this process, account is taken of workloads, management priorities, competing demands arising and the capacity to redeploy staff within areas, in order to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources.
