Written Answers Nos. 346-359
346. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Social Protection why the back to education allowance scheme will only cover a master's degree in education; and if he will investigate the possibility of allowing it to cover additional master's degrees. [21040/16]
View answerThe objective of the back to education allowance scheme (BTEA) is to assist those who are distant from the labour market to acquire the necessary education to improve their chances of becoming independent of the social welfare system. The BTEA, which is designed to support second chance education, enables eligible persons to pursue approved education courses and to continue to receive income support for the duration of a course of study, subject to meeting certain conditions.
Other than the Professional Masters in Education, which is a pre-requisite to taking up a teaching post, the BTEA does not provide income support to customers seeking to pursue a qualification at Masters Level.
The BTEA was never intended to be an alternative form of funding for people entering or re-entering the third level education system. The Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) Grant payable by the Department of Education and Skills represents the primary support for persons pursuing education. The eligibility rules that govern the payment of a student maintenance grant are a matter for that Department.
347. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Social Protection to explore the possibility of providing an exemption to the progression rule for back to education allowance in cases where the original qualification was received more than a decade ago. [20470/16]
View answerThe objective of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) is to assist those who are distant from the labour market to acquire the necessary education to improve their chances of becoming independent of the social welfare system. Administration of BTEA by this Department is aligned with the student support schemes under the Department of Education and Skills.
A person wishing to pursue the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) has to satisfy a number of conditions. These include being a certain age, being in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, commencing a full-time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications.
In certain circumstances, BTEA can be approved where the applicant proposes to undertake a course of study leading to a qualification at either FETAC Levels 5 or 6 where the applicant already holds qualification at the same level or lesser level. This applies, for example, where the previous educational award is deemed to be in an economic sector that is no longer growing.
The focus of BTEA is on providing assistance to the highest possible number of those in greatest needs and furthest from the labour market. Progression in education is a condition which is not unique to BTEA - State support for education purposes is grounded on a student progressing from one qualification level to a higher one.
The operation of the BTEA has been revised over the past two years and I have no plans to further alter the current criteria, as set out in the 2016 scheme guidelines.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
348. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection why a person who is classified as deaf has been refused carer's allowance; the services available to the person who requires extra care and attention and who will find daily life difficult without the assistance of a carer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20476/16]
View answerCarer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has a disability such that they require full-time care and attention.
Full-time care is defined in legislation as requiring from another person continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in connection with normal bodily functions or continual supervision in order to avoid being a danger to him or herself, and likely to require this level of care for at least 12 consecutive months.
Without the details necessary to identify the specific case, I am unable to provide details of the reason(s) that CA was disallowed.
It is open to those who are deaf and who are substantially restricted in undertaking work that would otherwise be suitable for a person of their age, experience and qualifications to apply for disability allowance, which is a weekly allowance paid to people with a disability.
Where the onset of deafness is as a result of an accident at work or a prescribed occupational disease, a person may have an entitlement to injury and/or disablement benefit. A prescribed occupational disease is one that has developed because of the type of work done. It also includes any condition resulting from the disease.
In order to qualify, the person must have worked in a prescribed occupation for at least 10 years and applied for this benefit within 5 years of leaving that employment.
It may be paid where the person has suffered a loss of physical or mental faculty as a result of occupational deafness. Where the person has suffered a 50% loss of faculty and as a result needs someone to attend to their personal needs for at least 6 months, they may have an entitlement to a constant attendance allowance.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
349. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection why he declined an application by a person (details supplied) under the disability allowance scheme; why moneys that were awarded to provide for the future care for the person following damages were assessed against the person when certain award damages are exempt; if such moneys should be considered as weekly means considering that they are to provide for the person's future care; and if he will consider the legislation surrounding the awarding of damages and their impact on a person's disability allowance. [20479/16]
View answerIn the case of means-tested payments from my Department, such as disability allowance (DA), applicants are assessed with any cash income, property other than the home, and investments. Within all means-tested schemes, there is an initial amount of capital that is disregarded for means assessment purposes. For most schemes this disregard is €20,000 but, in the case of DA, it is €50,000. This means that a DA applicant with €50,000 in savings (and no other means) can be assessed as having nil means and, as a result, receive the maximum rate of DA.
Social welfare legislation provides for the disregard of certain compensation awards when assessing the means of a person for social assistance schemes, including DA. The disregards for social welfare means assessment purposes include all income derived from compensation awarded by the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal, by the Residential Institutions Redress Board and in relation to disability caused by thalidomide. Any payment made by the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board is similarly disregarded. In addition, ex gratia payments made to women who were admitted to and worked in the Magdalen Laundries or through the Symphysiotomy Payment Scheme are also disregarded in social welfare means assessments. All other compensation or court awards which are not provided for in social welfare legislation are assessed in the normal manner.
The statutory formula for assessing means from capital for DA is as follows:
|
Capital |
Weekly means assessed |
|
First €50,000 |
Nil |
|
Next €10,000 |
€1 per €1,000 |
|
Next €10,000 |
€2 per €1,000 |
|
Balance (any capital over €70,000) |
€4 per €1,000 |
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
350. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for a domiciliary care allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20493/16]
View answerThe person concerned was notified on the 7th July 2016 that her domiciliary care allowance has been awarded from 1st April 2016. The first payment of the allowance, along with arrears due, will issue on 19th July 2016.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
351. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for a domiciliary care allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20494/16]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 27th May 2016. 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 applicant. Applications are processed in date of receipt order. It can currently take 13 weeks to process an application for DCA.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
352. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for a domiciliary care allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20495/16]
View answerI am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, has decided to allow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision. The person concerned has been notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
353. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for a domiciliary care allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20496/16]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 28th April 2016. 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 applicant. Applications are processed in date of receipt order. It can currently take 13 weeks to process an application for DCA.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
354. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of the case of a person (details supplied) who is not receiving family income supplement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20502/16]
View answerThe person concerned was first awarded Family Income Supplement (FIS) on 5 June 2014 and they have been in receipt of a weekly FIS supplement since that date.
Each year, customers are afforded the opportunity to forward a completed renewal application form and in this case, the person concerned forwarded a renewal form that was registered on 29 March 2016 and his FIS was renewed from 2 June 2016 at the weekly rate of €48 based upon that information which included one qualified child.
On 3 June 2016, my department received up-dated information from the person in question in relation to an additional child. When this information was received, their claim was reviewed and they were awarded a revised supplement of €109.00 per week based on two children.
Arrears due in respect of the additional child issued to the person concerned on 30 June 2016.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
355. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for illness benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20503/16]
View answerThe person concerned has been awarded disability allowance with effect from 16 September 2015. The first payment was made by his selected payment method on 10 August 2016.
Arrears of payment due will issue as soon as possible once any necessary adjustment is calculated and applied in respect of any overlapping payments or in respect of outstanding overpayments (if applicable).
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
356. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for family income supplement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20504/16]
View answerThe person concerned applied for FIS in April 2015 and was awarded a payment with effect from 16 April 2015.
My department subsequently became aware that the children of the person concerned were not residing for the majority of the time with the FIS claimant. A social welfare inspector (SWI) interviewed both parents to try to ascertain with whom the children are normally resident. The SWI reported that the children reside with each parent for precisely 50% of the time and that this custody arrangement has been in place since October 2014 prior to the award of FIS.
On 7 October 2015, a deciding officer (DO) having considered all the evidence revised the decision and disallowed FIS on the grounds that the children were not qualified children within the meaning of FIS legislation.
The person concerned appealed this decision to disallow FIS to the social welfare appeals office (SWAO). On 29 April 2016 an appeals officer (AO), having considered all the circumstances, partly allowed the appeal. The AO determined that FIS should be paid to the appellant on alternate weeks with effect from October 2015.
In accordance with the decision of the AO, all arrears due to the person in question for the period from October 2015 up to 13 April 2016 issued to her nominated bank account. She has been awarded FIS for a further 52 weeks from 14 April 2016 and, again, all arrears due have been issued by my department to her nominated bank account.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
357. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for family income supplement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20505/16]
View answerA family income supplement (FIS) claim was registered for the person concerned on 16 March 2016.
In order to qualify for FIS, the applicant cannot be in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance (JA) nor be included as an increase for a qualified adult (IQA) on their spouse/partner’s JA.
In this case, the person’s spouse/partner was claiming an IQA on their JA in respect of the FIS claimant. A letter issued from FIS section to the person in question on 24 March 2016 advising them that, in order to proceed with their FIS claim, it was necessary for them to contact their local Intreo office and advise them that they no longer wished to be included as a qualified adult on their spouse/partner’s JA.
The claimant has recently complied with the requirement to request removal of the IQA and, accordingly, the person concerned has now been awarded FIS amounting to €41.00 per week from 17 March 2016 to 15 March 2017.
Arrears of FIS due have been issued to the claimant’s nominated bank account this week.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
358. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection when will a decision be made on an application for a carer's allowance in respect of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20508/16]
View answerThe application for carer’s allowance in respect of the person concerned was awarded on 4 July 2016 and the first payment is due to issue to the person’s nominated post office on 14 July 2016.
Arrears of allowance due from 4 February 2016 have issued by cheque. The person concerned was notified of these details on 4 July 2016.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
359. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection if his attention has been drawn to the anomaly in the free travel scheme whereby children who are being cared for by their carers are excluded in circumstances where the carers obtain a free travel pass on the basis of them caring for their children who have a disability; if he will investigate this anomaly as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20547/16]
View answerThere are currently approximately 853,000 people in Ireland in receipt of free travel at an annual cost of €80 million per annum.
The free travel scheme is available to all people aged over 66 living permanently in the State. Applicants who are under age 66, including those with learning disabilities, must be in receipt of a qualifying payment in order to qualify for the scheme. The qualifying payments for those aged under 66 are invalidity pension, blind pension, disability allowance, carer’s allowance or an equivalent social security payment from a country covered by EC Regulations or one with which Ireland has a Bilateral Social Security Agreement. Free travel is provided for people in receipt of carer’s allowance to facilitate their caring role and support their social inclusion.
Children with disabilities may qualify for the domiciliary care allowance. This is a monthly payment of €309.50 to the carer of a child with a disability. The allowance may be used for the additional costs involved in caring for the child and this may include additional transport costs. On most transport services children under sixteen years of age are charged fares at special concessionary child rates.
Any decision to extend the free travel scheme to persons who are not in receipt of a primary qualifying payment would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
