Written Answers Nos. 145-163
145. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when temporary clerical officer interviews will be scheduled for County Longford; and if a panel will be set up for summer contracts for those students available for the summer months only. [23083/19]
View answerThe Public Appointments Service (PAS) has responsibility for the recruitment of temporary clerical officers (TCOs) for all Government Departments.
I am advised that they are to shortly commence the interview stage for County Longford TCO candidates, who have stated on their application form that their availability is June to September only.
146. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when a means review will be carried out in relation to carer's allowance for a person (details supplied) in view of the fact that this request was made in October 2018; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23107/19]
View answerCarer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.
The person concerned has been in receipt of a half-rate CA since 19 June 2014 as her husband had been claiming an increase for a qualified adult on his jobseeker's allowance in respect of her. On 22 October 2018 she requested a re-assessment of her CA entitlement as her husband is now self-employed and ceased to claim jobseeker's allowance.
As his means from employment may affect that entitlement, a full means re-assessment is being carried out and the matter was referred to a local social welfare inspector (SWI) on 11 February 2019 to assess the level of care being provided, assess means and confirm that all the conditions for receipt of carer’s allowance are satisfied.
Once the SWI has reported, a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
147. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when an illness benefit or disability allowance will become payable in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23114/19]
View answerAn application for Illness Benefit was received from the person concerned on 8th May 2019.
The person concerned does not satisfy the PRSI qualifying conditions for payment of Illness Benefit.
One of the qualifying conditions for Illness Benefit is that a person must have 39 weeks of PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant tax year (or 26 weeks of PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant year and the tax year immediately before the relevant year), of which 13 must be paid contributions at class A, E, H or P.
The person concerned has a total of 31 weeks of paid and credited contributions in 2017 (of which 16 are paid contributions) and 47 weeks of paid and credited contributions in 2016 (of which 12 are paid contributions) and therefore he does not satisfy this contribution condition.
The person concerned will receive credited contributions for the duration of his claim. A decision letter has issued to the person concerned explaining the position.
The Department does not, to date, have a record of receiving an application for Disability Allowance from the person concerned.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
148. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in the situation in which a person (details supplied) works 20 hours per week, if the balance of their income derived from social welfare will continue to be allowed as previously; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23118/19]
View answerIf a person secures part-time or casual work (up to and including 3 days per week), they may be entitled to a Jobseekers payment for days in which they are not employed. The person concerned must demonstrate that they meet the other conditions that apply to qualify for a Jobseekers payment, for example, be available for and genuinely seeking work and in the case of Jobseekers Allowance, satisfy a means test.
I trust this clarifies matter for the Deputy.
149. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the position in regard to a claim for disability allowance in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23119/19]
View answerI can confirm that my department received an application for disability allowance (DA) from this gentleman on 15 March 2019.
On 28 May 2019 the person concerned was requested to supply supporting documentation required by the deciding officer in order to make a decision on his eligibility. On receipt of this information a decision will be made on his DA application and the person concerned will be notified of the outcome.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
150. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the position in respect of a carer’s allowance for a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23120/19]
View answerCarer's benefit (CARB) is a PRSI based payment, made to a person who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.
Before a decision can be made on entitlement to CARB, evidence must be provided in respect of the care recipient’s care requirement, the level of care the carer provides, the carer’s hours of employment and their PRSI record.
An application for CARB was received from the person concerned on 1 February 2019.
Additional information in relation to the person’s application was requested by a deciding officer on 14 May 2019.
Once the information is received the application will be processed without delay and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
151. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which women or men who are previously deemed to have insufficient contributions to meet requirements for payments of State pension can now be facilitated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23124/19]
View answerA person is required to have 520 contributions paid to qualify for the State Pension (contributory). It is reasonable to require people who seek a contributory pension to have made at least 10 years paid contributions into the Social Insurance Fund which finances it, over 50 years of working age life.
While it was lower in the past when PRSI coverage was less widespread, legislation was introduced in 1997 to increase this threshold to 520 weeks, or 10 years of contributions. A fifteen year period was allowed pass between that legislation being enacted and the threshold being raised to this level, which would have been sufficient for most people to achieve the required contributions.
For those who do not qualify for the State Pension (contributory) (SPC), there are other state pension payments available. Notably, they may qualify for the State Pension (non-contributory) which is a means-tested payment (based on their share of household means) with a maximum payment of 95% of the SPC. If their spouse has a contributory pension, they may qualify for an increase for a qualified adult (based on their own means), amounting up to 90% of a full rate SPC pension.
Consequently, if a person doesn’t receive a State pension after pension age, they have both significant means and have made little or no contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working life. Introducing a new pension entitlement for such people would reduce the resources available for other pensioners, most of whom have less means than they do, and have contributed significantly more to the Social Insurance Fund.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
152. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the degree to which she can expedite the process of applications for carer’s allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23125/19]
View answerMy Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
In general, social welfare schemes with a number of complex qualifying conditions can take longer to process. One such example is the carer's allowance (CA) scheme.
To qualify for CA, the carer must show that they are habitually resident in the State, that they are providing full-time care and attention to a person who requires this level of care and that their means are less than the statutory limit.
It is also the case that in order to register their claim and establish an early entitlement or claim date many people submit a claim without first securing all of the necessary supporting documentation. While this does ensure that people will be paid with arrears from an early "effective" date it does mean that claims take longer to process.
The claim processing is kept under active review, with all possible steps taken to improve processing times. This includes the temporary assignment of additional resources and the review of business processes, to ensure the efficient processing of applications. These steps have resulted in a significant reduction in the number of carers claims awaiting decision and the processing time continues to improve from an average of 17 weeks at the end of December 2018 to an average of 12 weeks currently.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
153. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which she can expedite appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23126/19]
View answer155. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeframe for dealing with appeals in respect of various social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23128/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 153 and 155 together.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
All claim decisions taken by the Department’s Deciding Officers and Designated Persons are appealable to the Chief Appeals Officer. In any year about 85% of all claims are awarded by the Department and just 1% are appealed. Nevertheless, the Department is concerned that these cases are dealt with as quickly as possible.
In addition, a number of new Appeals Officers have joined the Appeals Office over the past 12-18 months, to replace staff leaving on retirement. Additional staff have also been allocated to the office in recent weeks. Given the complexity of the appeals process it takes some time for new staff to be trained up and develop expertise and this has led to somewhat longer processing times during this period. The Chief Appeals Officer has advised me that appeal processing times continue to be a priority for her Office.
Accordingly, significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent years. As a result, appeal processing times in respect of all schemes improved between 2011 and 2017 from 52.5 weeks for an oral hearing in 2011 to 26.4 weeks in 2017 and from 25.1 weeks for a summary decision in 2011 to 19.8 weeks in 2017. The corresponding processing times for the year 2018 were 30 weeks for an oral hearing and 24.8 weeks for a summary decision. The figures for the first four months of 2019 show some improvement with 27.9 weeks taken to process an oral hearing and 23.6 weeks taken to process a summary decision.
The time taken to process an appeal reflects a number of factors including that the appeals process is a quasi-judicial process with Appeals Officers being required to decide all appeals on a ‘de-novo’ basis. In addition, appeals decisions are themselves subject to review by the High Court and decisions have to be formally written up to quasi-judicial standards. Other factors that influence appeals processing times include the quality of the initial decision – in this respect the Department has changed the decisions process in respect of medical schemes, in order to provide more information to the claimant. I am advised by my Department that this will help to reduce the number of appeals over time.
Finally, where a claimant has been refused a social welfare payment, regardless of the scheme involved, and is appealing that decision, if their means are insufficient to meet their needs it is open to them to apply for supplementary welfare allowance in the interim.
If their application for supplementary welfare allowance is refused, they can also appeal that decision. The supplementary welfare allowance appeal will be prioritised for attention within the Appeals Office as soon as the appeal file and submission is received from my Department.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
154. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of exceptional need requests submitted in each of the past 12 months; the extent to which all have been determined in order with the request; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23127/19]
View answerUnder the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment under this scheme. Payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance. An urgent needs payment (UNP) may be made to persons who may not normally qualify for SWA but who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources or where an alternative is not available at that time. In total €38.8 million has been provided for exceptional and urgent needs payments in 2019.
Statistics are maintained relating to payments under the ENP and UNP schemes, however they are not maintained on the number of applications or the outcome of those applications. The following tabular statement shows the number of ENPs and UNPs made in each of the previous 12 months to end April 2019.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Tabular Statement
Number of Exceptional Needs Payments and Urgent Needs Payments between May 2018-April 2019:
|
Month |
Number of Payments (rounded) |
|
May 2018 |
9,200 |
|
June 2018 |
8,000 |
|
July 2018 |
9,000 |
|
August 2018 |
9,900 |
|
September 2018 |
9,000 |
|
October 2018 |
13,300 |
|
November 2018 |
11,500 |
|
December 2018 |
9,200 |
|
January 2019 |
9,400 |
|
February 2019 |
7,600 |
|
March 2019 |
7,800 |
|
April 2019 |
7,300 |
156. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which rent support payments are under review at a given time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23129/19]
View answerRent supplement continues its important role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting some 21,250 recipients for which the Government has provided €132.4 million for 2019.
Staff in this Department engage with customers throughout the entire lifecycle of their claim, including on regular reviews for all schemes on an ongoing basis, as a control measure and to ensure that they continue to satisfy the conditions of the scheme. A person’s means may also be reviewed from time to time. A customer may also request a review of their means in the light of changed circumstances at any time.
Rent supplement claims may be reviewed following a decision to suspend or disallow a primary social welfare payment as there may be a change to the claimant’s circumstances that could affect eligibility. During a review of a rent supplement claim, the CWS officers will engage with a claimant to establish continued eligibility as quickly as possible and limit any delay to payments. Payments are not suspended unless there is a valid reason for doing so, for example the provision of insufficient information by the customer in response to a query, or where there is no reply from the customer. Undue hardship for customers should not arise if there is on going co-operation from the customer with the Deciding Officer/Designated Person in this Department.
Any person in this situation is encouraged to contact the Department’s CWS office responsible for their rent supplement claim to discuss their circumstances.
If the Deputy has concerns in respect of a particular case, he should bring the details to the attention of the Department and DEASP officials will follow up on them.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
157. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which recovery of overpayments is set at a level within the ability of the applicant to meet same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23130/19]
View answerEffective debt management is a key part of the overall control work of the Department. Ensuring that persons who have been overpaid make an on-going contribution to the recovery of their debts is a key element of this work.
Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise as a consequence of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended). Where an overpayment is raised, the Department is obligated to make every effort to recover sums overpaid.
As part of the process of decision-making and assessing an overpayment, the Department is required and is willing to engage with the customer to agree a suitable rate of repayment. In each case, the customer must be given an opportunity to clarify any relevant matters.
Overpayments may be recovered through regular periodic payments, deduction from the customer's on-going benefit payments or by way of a single payment covering the full amount owed.
The Social Welfare Act 2012 introduced a provision that allows the Department, in the absence of engagement by the debtor, to apply a deduction of up to 15% of the weekly personal rate of assistance or benefit payable to a customer for the purposes of recovering a debt. The deduction applies to the person’s personal rate only and does not affect payment of any adult or child dependent allowances, or any other allowances that are in payment.
Customer may, at any time, also seek to review the terms of any recovery arrangement(s) they have in place with the Department.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
158. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons in receipt of long-term jobseeker's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23131/19]
View answerThe total number of persons in receipt of a jobseeker's allowance payment at the end of April was 144,026; of these, 93,626 recipients had been in receipt of this allowance for a period exceeding one year.
159. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the level of youth unemployment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23132/19]
View answerGovernment policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. The policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs have created an environment in which business can succeed and has led to the creation of more than 400,000 jobs in Ireland since the economic low point of 2012. Secondly, through the Pathways to Work strategy, my Department ensures that as many new jobs as possible are filled by people taken from the live register, particularly the young unemployed.
To date these policies have been effective in reducing youth unemployment. Recently released data from the CSO, Labour Force Survey shows that youth unemployment has fallen from a peak of 31.2% in 2012 to 10.9% in the first quarter of 2019 and now lies below the EU average of 15%. Additionally, the number of young people in employment has increased by 25% since 2012, with 262,600 young people in work in the first quarter of 2019.
Under the Government’s policies to support the young unemployed, the first intervention is to provide case officer support to help newly unemployed young people find and secure sustainable jobs. There is monthly engagement with all young jobseekers by a case officer, and a personal progression plan is developed to chart the steps to be taken to facilitate a return to employment, which may include further education and training.
For those who do not find employment through this process, additional offers are provided for through further education and training programmes or in existing community-based employment programmes/workplace based interventions such as Community Employment and Tús; or in subsidies to employers, through JobsPlus Youth. Long-term unemployed jobseekers under-25 are also referred to JobPath, a contracted, payment-by-results employment service that provides additional resources and case managed supports to those long-term unemployed.
In October 2018, I introduced a new work experience programme targeted specifically at young jobseekers who are long term unemployed or who face significant barriers to employment. The Youth Employment Support Scheme (YESS) provides young jobseekers with the opportunity to learn basic and social skills in a supportive work-based environment. Participants received a payment of €229.50 per week. My Department is aiming to place up 1,000 young jobseekers in the scheme this year.
My Department continues to reviews its activation programmes and policies to make sure that they remain aligned to labour market requirements. Given the progress made during the lifecycle of Pathways to Work 2016-2020 and the improved nature of the labour market, my Department has begun preparations to develop an activation framework for a time of economic prosperity. The new framework aims to support further reductions in youth unemployment and add to the substantial improvements in the labour market that have been seen over the last few years.
Over the coming years, we must make sure that our citizens are equipped with the skills to take up jobs of the future and avail of the opportunities arising from a modern economy. Future Jobs Ireland 2019 has been launched by Government replacing the Action Plan for Jobs to deliver the required policy reforms to build a resilient workforce and innovative and competitive economy in a changing world of work. The strategy includes a number of youth specific measures which will be delivered on a whole of Government basis.
160. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of social welfare appeal hearings facilitated in each of the past three years to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23133/19]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
Appeals legislation provides that it is a matter for an Appeals Officer to decide whether an appeal can be fairly determined by means of a summary decision or if an oral hearing is required. In addition it is open to an appellant to request an oral hearing of their appeal. If an oral hearing is requested it will generally be given, except in cases where there is nothing manifestly to be gained from such a hearing, for example where the appeal question relates to PRSI contribution conditions or means and the underlying calculations are not being contested.
The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the following table.
|
Year |
Number of Appeal Decisions finalised by way of Oral Hearing |
|
2016 |
6,527 |
|
2017 |
5,412 |
|
2018 |
5,397 |
|
2019 - 1st January to April 30th |
1,698 |
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
161. Deputy John Brassil asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will examine an anomaly in the case of a person (details supplied) in relation to the new total contribution approach; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23134/19]
View answerSince late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement based on post Budget 2012 rate-bands. These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes provision for homecaring periods.
A HomeCaring period application form has issued to the person concerned. On receipt of the completed form, a determination will be made on the person's eligibility or otherwise for HomeCaring periods. The pension rate of the person concerned will be re-examined, taking account of the HomeCaring period(s) determination.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
162. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to put in place provision for persons currently in a house with an approved housing body which is not suitable for their specific needs with no possibility to transfer to the local authority list which would have a wider range of suitable properties; his further plans to create a policy for such transfers in certain scenarios related to mobility and access; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23073/19]
View answerThe oversight and management of housing waiting lists, including the allocation and transfer of tenancies, is a matter for the relevant housing authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, and associated regulations.
Section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 requires all housing authorities, as a reserved function, to make an allocation scheme determining the order of priority to be accorded in the allocation of dwellings to households qualified for social housing support and to households approved for a transfer, the allocation of which would, in the opinion of the authority, meet the accommodation needs and requirements of the households.
Where an AHB tenant was drawn from a local authority social housing waiting list in the first instance, there is no particular legislative provision that prevents that tenant from applying to go onto a local authority transfer list. Requests for housing transfers are considered and determined solely by the relevant local authority concerned in accordance with that authority’s allocation scheme.
Section 22(17) of the 2009 Act provides that the Minister’s power to direct a housing authority regarding the operation of its allocation scheme shall not be construed or operate to enable the Minister to direct the allocation of a dwelling to a particular household. I am, therefore, precluded from intervening in relation to the procedures followed, or decisions made, by housing authorities in the allocation of particular dwellings.
163. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans in relation to the possible introduction of lifelong tenancies which are being evaluated at present; the details of his remit in relation to same; if impact studies have been carried out to assess the impact the introduction of such a tenancy will have in the immediate future in terms of termination notices in advance of a prescribed date of implementation; his views on whether large-scale property investors will be receptive to such a policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23080/19]
View answerThe Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2016 provide that where a tenant has been in occupation of a dwelling for a continuous period of 6 months, with no valid notice of termination having been served during that time, a 'Part 4' tenancy is established to cover the next 5 years and 6 months.
Section 34 of the 2004 Act provides that a landlord must state a reason for the termination in any tenancy termination notice served, in accordance with the grounds for terminations set out in the table to that section. A Part 4 tenancy may be terminated by a landlord or tenant, without reason, at the end of its term.
A number of measures have been introduced in recent years with the objective of improving security of tenure for tenants. The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 extended the term of Part 4 tenancies from 4 to 6 years, for tenancies commencing on or after 24 December 2016; this delivered on a commitment, in Action 8 of the Government's 2016 Strategy for the Rental Sector, to provide for 6-year tenancies as part of a transition to tenancies of indefinite duration.
The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 enhances further the security of tenure for tenants by significantly extending the duration of tenancy termination notice periods; for example, a minimum of 180 days (approx. 6 months) notice must be provided by landlords who terminate a tenancy of between 3 and 7 years’ duration. In addition, further measures have been introduced to enhance and enforce tenancy termination provisions, including:
- the application of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB)'s new investigation and sanctioning regime to improper conduct by a landlord who contravenes the tenancy termination provisions; and
- a new requirement for landlords to copy a tenancy termination notice to the RTB.
The transition to tenancies of indefinite duration is being considered in the context of a further Housing and Residential Tenancies Bill which I will be bringing forward later this year and is expected to be the subject of pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government in Q4 2019. A Regulatory Impact Assessment will be undertaken by my Department in relation to the Bill, taking into account the views of stakeholders.
