Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 June 2021
148. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection if matters raised in correspondence (details supplied) in relation to the operation of the household benefit package scheme for persons with a disability will be examined. [29994/21]
View answerThe household benefits package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. The package 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. The package is also available to some people under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain long term welfare payments such as invalidity pension, carer's allowance, disability allowance, blind pension and incapacity supplement.
The package consists of the gas and electricity element of the package and the free TV licence element. The gas and electricity element is paid at a rate of €35 per month. My Department will spend approximately €265 million this year on HHB for over 476,000 customers.
A person in receipt of a long-term social welfare payment such as disability allowance may retain their secondary benefits such as HHB when they transfer to an education and training board/national learning network course. However, entitlement to these secondary benefits must be established prior to their long term qualifying social welfare payment being stopped. A person cannot qualify for the HHB package while on a course.
The Disability Allowance of the person concerned was stopped in March 2020 when that person started an ETB/NLN course. As the person concerned was not receiving the HHB package before transferring from disability allowance to the training course, that person is not entitled to claim HHB at this time.
Any decision to allow a person aged under 66 to qualify for the HHB package while no longer in receipt of a qualifying payment would have to be considered in a budgetary context.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
