During the COVID-19 emergency, the Government has been seeking to implement and operate supports that are targeted where most needed, to ensure continued economic activity and reduce the risk of poverty.
While the primary State income support in respect of people who are aged 66 years or over is the State Pension – either the State Pension (contributory) or the State Pension (non-contributory) which is means tested, my Department also provides significant additional supports to eligible senior citizens to help them with their energy costs and to help towards costs associated with telephone services. These supports include the household benefits, telephone support allowance and fuel allowance.
The household benefits package (HHB) is generally available to people living in the State aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. My Department will spend approximately €265 million this year on HHB. It consists of the gas / electricity element of the package (€35 a month) and the free TV licence element.
The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €24.50 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €686 for the fuel season) from October to April at an estimated cost of €261 million in 2020. The purpose of this payment is to assist qualifying households with their energy costs. In Budget 2021, I announced an increase of €3.50 a week in the weekly rate of Fuel Allowance payable. While the increase in the fuel allowance payment took account of the increase in carbon tax on solid fuels from May 2021, the fuel allowance rate will increase from the 4th January 2021 thus ensuring recipients will benefit from the increased payment over this winter period.
As a result of the Covid-19 Emergency, the then Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection secured Government approval to extend the 2019 / 2020 Fuel Allowance season by an additional four weeks. This extended the payment of €24.50 per week to all recipients of the fuel allowance from Friday 10 April (when it was due to expire) until Friday 8 May 2020 at an estimated additional cost of over €31m.
The telephone support allowance (TSA) is a weekly payment of €2.50. The estimated full year cost of the scheme is over €17.5 million. To receive the allowance a customer of my Department must be in receipt of a qualifying payment such as the State pension and also be in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance and the Fuel Allowance. The scheme supports recipients by assisting with the cost of communications and/or home security solutions.
Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, a special heating supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances with special heating requirements. In addition, exceptional needs payments may be made to help meet an essential once-off cost which an applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources.
While I fully understand that these are difficult and distressing times for many people, especially for the vulnerable and the elderly, any further economic measures can only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
