Christopher O'Sullivan
Question:532. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will review the weekly income limit for pensioners applying for fuel allowance. [25220/20]
View answerTuesday, 22 September 2020
Questions (532)
Written answers
The fuel allowance is a payment of €24.50 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €686 each year) from October to April, to an average of 352,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €261.35 million in 2020. 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. People who are in receipt of a qualifying contributory payment must also satisfy a means test. All non-contributory recipients are accepted as satisfying the means-test for fuel.
A fuel applicant and members of his/her household may have a combined assessable income of up to €100.00 a week above the appropriate rate of State Pension Contributory and still qualify for a payment. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own.
The €100 a week means limit is significantly higher that the weekly fuel allowance rate of €24.50 and also the combined weekly total of household benefits and fuel allowance added together (€35.65). It should be remembered that more than half of those over 66 years of age are solely dependent upon the State pension, and so a person with additional pension income above €100, is not amongst the cohort of more disadvantaged people that Fuel Allowance is targeted towards.
Any extension of the fuel allowance qualifying criteria, such as increasing the allowable means for fuel allowance purposes, can only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.
Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme a special heating supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances. Exceptional needs payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which an applicant is unable to meet from his / her own resources.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.