Danny Healy-Rae
Question:4. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason that persons on benefit payments are still not eligible for the fuel allowance. [51021/22]
View answerThursday, 13 October 2022
Questions (4)
Written answers
The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, which is currently supporting more than 370,000 households at an estimated cost of €366 million.
As part of the overall welfare Budget 2023 package of €2.2 Billion, a number of significant reforms were made to the Fuel Allowance scheme. Up to 81,000 new households will benefit from a major expansion of Fuel Allowance Scheme from January 2023. These reforms include:
- A new means threshold will be introduced for people aged 70 years and over. The new means threshold will be €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple.
- The weekly means threshold for those aged under 70 will be increased by €80 to €200 above the appropriate rate of State Pension (Contributory).
- The Disablement Benefit payment will be disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes. A household will also no longer be debarred from receiving Fuel Allowance because a person in the household is in receipt of Disablement Benefit.
- The Half-Rate Carer's Allowance payment will be disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes.
It is incorrect to say that the Fuel Allowance is not available to Benefit recipients. In fact, it is available to recipients of long-term benefit payments including pensioners and people with disabilities and the changes I have just listed will increase the number of households on these schemes that will benefit from the payment.
Some short-term benefit payments such as Jobseeker's Benefit, Illness benefit and Maternity Benefit are not, however, qualifying payments for Fuel Allowance. The reason for this is that Fuel Allowance is intended as a support for households with a long-term dependence on welfare payments. The schemes just mentioned are short-term payments for those who suffer a short period of interruption to their employment. These payments are not means-tested; the recipients still have an attachment to the labour force and there is an expectation that they will return to the workforce.It is also important to note that households in receipt of benefit payments, including those not eligible for Fuel Allowance, will benefit from the enhanced electricity credit of €600 which will be applied to electricity bills, €200 before Christmas and the remainder (in two tranches) early in the New Year. These households will also benefit from the double week in social welfare payments in October and December.
Finally, the Department of Social Protection provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme for people who have an urgent need, which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Service.
Questions Nos. 5 to 12, inclusive, answered orally.