Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
888. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Social Protection if she has considered expanding the qualifying criteria for the fuel allowance payment to include those who must continue to work into old age but cannot afford fuel and heating costs due to high mortgage repayments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63449/21]
View answerThe Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) 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 social welfare payments where an applicant satisfies a means test. People on such long term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty.
In Budget 2022, along with a number of other changes to the scheme, most notably the €5 increase in the weekly rate of the allowance with effect from the start of the 2021/2022 season, the weekly means threshold for fuel allowance was increased by €20 to €120. This represents a 20% increase which enables more people to qualify for this support. The €120 allowable means limit is significantly more than the €33 weekly rate of fuel allowance.
The Government has therefore implemented significant improvements to the scheme through Budget 2022. Any proposal to further increase the allowable means for fuel allowance purposes would have to be considered in this context and in the context of the overall policy and budgetary situation.
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.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
