The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 over a full fuel season) from October to April, to 371,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €323 million in 2021. 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 to direct the limited resources available to the Department in as targeted a manner as possible, and so it is focused on long term payments where an applicant satisfies a means test. People on long term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty.
Partial Capacity Benefit (PCB) allows people to continue to receive a percentage of their previous payment while in employment. In addition, the scheme has been designed so there are no restrictions on the number of hours a person in receipt of the payment can work and there are no restrictions on earnings. It is for this reason it is not a qualifying payment for fuel allowance.
While the Department continues to keep the range of supports available under review, any decision to extend the qualifying criteria for fuel allowance in the manner suggested could only be considered while taking account of the overall budgetary context and the availability of financial resources.
Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, Exceptional Needs Payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources, and this may include exceptional heating costs. Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.
The Department of Social Protection commissioned Indecon International Consultants to carry out research into the cost of disability in Ireland. The Programme for Government commits the Government to use this research into the cost of disability to individuals and families to properly inform the direction of future policy.
This matter is significantly wider than the income support system which is why a whole-of-Government perspective is being taken. There is not a single typical ‘cost of disability’, rather there is a spectrum from low additional costs to extremely high extra costs of disability, depending on the individual circumstances of the person with a disability. Additional costs of disability go across a number of areas of expenditure including housing; equipment, aids and appliances; mobility, transport and communications; medicines; care and assistance services and additional living expenses.
The Government published the report on 7 December. The Government has referred the report to the National Disability Inclusion Strategy Steering Group, chaired by Minister of State for Disability Anne Rabbitte T.D., to consider what actions across Government should follow arising from the recommendations contained in the report.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
