Written Answers Nos. 155-166
155. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Cork under the carer's allowance scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1493/16]
View answerCarer's Allowance (CA) is a social assistance payment made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person/persons and whose income falls below certain limits.
The person concerned applied for CA on 12 September 2012 and the application was disallowed on 13 April 2013 on the grounds that the person being cared for did not require full-time care and attention.
To date, no re-application has been received from the person concerned.
Accordingly, I have arranged for an application form (CR1) to issue, which the person concerned should complete and return as soon as possible, in order that the Department may determine their entitlement to CA. If the person in question has submitted an application in the past few days, there is no need to re-submit a new application and the Department will be in touch in relation to the application in due course
156. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry under the disability allowance scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1507/16]
View answerI confirm that an application from the person concerned for disability allowance (DA) was received by the Department on 30 November 2015. The application has been referred to a Social Welfare Inspector (SWI) for a report on the person’s means and circumstances. Once the SWI has submitted his/her report to DA section, a decision will be made on the application and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
157. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to expedite an application by a person (details supplied) under the carer's allowance scheme. [1510/16]
View answerI confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person concerned on 23 October 2015. The application is currently being processed and once completed, the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
158. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Kildare for a review of the decision to refuse an application under the invalidity pension scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1514/16]
View answerInvalidity pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions.
The department received a claim for IP for the person concerned on 07 September 2015. The person concerned was refused IP on the grounds that the medical conditions for the scheme were not satisfied. He was notified on the 09 November 2015 of this decision, the reasons for it and of his right of review or appeal.
The person concerned requested a review of this decision and submitted further medical evidence in support of his request. Following a review of all the information available it was decided that there was no change to the original decision. The person concerned was notified on 12 January 2016 of the outcome of the review and of his right to appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office within 21 days.
159. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a decision will be made on an application by a person (details supplied) in County Donegal under the domiciliary care allowance scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1520/16]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 22nd October 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.
160. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of a review of a decision to refuse an application for a domiciliary care allowance by a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1523/16]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 22nd June 2015. This application was not allowed as the child was not considered to satisfy the qualifying conditions for the allowance. A letter issued on 5 October 2015 outlining the decision of the deciding officer to refuse the allowance.
A review of this decision was requested on 23rd October 2015. The application will be re-examined by a deciding officer and a revised decision will be made if warranted. The person concerned will be notified of the outcome of the review as soon as it is completed. Such reviews can take up to 12 weeks to complete at present.
161. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of the State pension (contributory); the extent to which this figure has fluctuated over the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1526/16]
View answerThe table below shows the total number of recipients of state pension (contributory) at the end of each year 2011 to 2015 inclusive.
|
State pension (contributory) |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
No of Recipients |
296,995 |
312,314 |
329,531 |
346,420 |
361,725 |
The number of recipients of state pension (contributory) has increased steadily over the past five years, at an average rate of 5% annually.
162. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of the State pension (non-contributory); the extent to which this figure has fluctuated over the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1527/16]
View answerThe number of State pension non-contributory (SPNC) recipients for the last five years is set out in the table below.
|
YEAR |
TOTAL NUMBER OF SPNC RECIPIENTS. |
|
2011 |
96,749 |
|
2012 |
96,126 |
|
2013 |
95,801 |
|
2014 |
95,570 |
|
2015 |
95,179 |
The number of SPNC recipients has reduced by 1,570 (1.6%) since 2011 and the number of new SPNC applications is approximately 9,000 per year.
163. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of applications for the State pension (contributory) refused in each of the past five years to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1528/16]
View answerAccording to the most recent records of the Department, the number of applicants whose claim for state pension (contributory) was disallowed in each of the years 2011 to 2015 inclusive is set out in the table below.
|
- |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
No of Applications |
2551 |
2479 |
2816 |
3316 |
4423 |
It should be noted that the figures include applicants who subsequently qualified for state pension (contribution) or state pension (non-contributory) after the end of the year during which the disallowance decision was made.
164. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will extend the State pension (contributory) to women who retired from the workforce while rearing their children, and later returned to employment, only to find themselves ineligible for this pension; if eligibility for a reduced level of pension might be considered in such cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1529/16]
View answer165. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of women whose employment and as a consequence, insurance contributions were interrupted by the rearing of their families, and who may or may not have later returned to the workforce, and who may have found themselves ineligible for the State pension (contributory); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1530/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 164 and 165 together.
The State pension contributory is a very valuable benefit and is the bedrock of the Irish pension system. Therefore, it is important to ensure that those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working lives. To ensure that the individual can maximise their entitlement to a State pension, all contributions paid or credited over their working life from when they first enter insurable employment until pension age are taken into account when assessing their entitlement and the level of that entitlement.
Since 1961, when contributory pensions were introduced, the average contributions test has been used in calculating pension entitlement. Once over 16 years of age, the date a person enters into insurable employment is the date used for averaging purposes. In this context, even if someone has only 10 years (520 weeks) of paid reckonable contributions between their 16th and 66th birthdays, they may qualify for a State pension (contributory), although the rate payable would vary depending on their circumstances.
The homemaker’s scheme makes qualification for a higher rate of State pension (contributory) easier for those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties. The scheme, which was introduced in and took effect from 1994, allows up to 20 years spent caring for children under 12 years of age (or caring for incapacitated people over that age) to be disregarded when a person’s social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes, subject to the standard qualifying conditions for State pension contributory also being satisfied.
Where people who were unattached to the labour market during most of their adult lives cannot qualify for a contributory pension in their own right as they have paid few or no contributions, or cannot qualify for a full rate as a result of an intermittent PRSI record, the social protection system provides alternative methods of supporting such pensioners in old age. Therefore, if their spouse has a contributory pension, they may qualify for an Increase for a Qualified Adult amounting up to 90% of a full rate pension, which by default is paid directly to them. Alternatively, they may qualify for a means-tested State Pension (non-contributory), amounting up to 95% of the maximum contributory pension rate.
The combination of measures under the Social Protection code have resulted in very low levels of consistent poverty, both for men and women, aged over 65. The most recently published Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund confirms that those with lower earnings and those with shorter contribution histories, mostly women, have and will continue to obtain the best value for money due to the distributive nature of the Fund.
There are no statistics available to my Department detailing the numbers who spent period(s) outside the Irish labour market to care for their families, and who, as a direct result of those periods, would not qualify for a State pension. Such statistics would comprise largely of people who have not paid PRSI for many decades, and who in many cases would not have made a claim under the State pension system. There are a great number of reasons why someone might cease paying PRSI contributions from a certain date, and the data sought by the Deputy is not, therefore, available to my Department.
