Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 November 2018
604. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to change the criteria for fuel allowance in cases in which a person that was on a community employment scheme and in receipt of fuel allowance but had to cease employment due to injury was then placed on jobseeker's benefit and is no longer eligible for a fuel allowance payment. [47742/18]
View answerThe fuel allowance is a payment of €22.50 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €630 each year) from October to April, to over 372,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €227 million in 2018. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household.
The criteria for fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. Therefore the fuel allowance is a means tested payment and qualifying payments are those payments that are considered long term payments by my Department. People on long term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to energy poverty than people who have only recently become unemployed, and may only be jobless for a short period.
Jobseekers benefit is a short term non-means tested scheme and therefore is not a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance. Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for the fuel allowance scheme to include people on short term payment schemes such as jobseekers benefit would require additional funding for the scheme, and would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.
Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme a recipient of a social welfare or health service executive payment who has exceptional essential heating costs due to ill health or infirmity and who cannot provide for such costs from within his or her own resources may qualify for a heating supplement. There is no standard rate for a heating supplement. Each case is examined on its merits and the Community Welfare Officer determines the amount to be paid taking account of the level of the expenses in question and the ability of the applicant to contribute towards his or her exceptional heating costs.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
