Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 July 2022
109. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the proposals to improve the criteria for the free fuel allowance in cases in which a family member may return to live with a parent on a temporary basis, who normally resides on their own and who is in receipt of the free fuel allowance due to housing or domestic difficulties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34869/22]
View answerThe Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks - or a total of €924 each year - from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist qualifying households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a 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. To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria including the household composition criteria. 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.
An adult child of a householder moving back into the family home may result in a reduction of additional allowances such as the fuel allowance payment previously held by the householder. However, the economies of scale from living together should mean that a contribution towards household costs by the person moving in would compensate for any such reduction in payments from my Department.
A change in the qualifying criteria such as that proposed by the Deputy, disregarding the income of the returning family member, would change the targeted nature of the scheme and would likely result in payments being directed to households with significant income.
There will always be exceptional cases and it is for this reason that the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme was introduced. In the event that the return of a family member into the household results in a reduction in fuel allowance payment with no compensating contribution by the family member, then a payment may be made in the form of a fuel supplement under this scheme.
Additional costs would also arise if the criteria were relaxed in the manner suggested by the Deputy and any decision to change the criteria for the Fuel Allowance scheme would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
