Community Welfare Services

Wednesday, 14 December 2022

Questions (175)

Seán Sherlock

Question:

175. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of customers seeking assistance from community welfare officers in each Intreo office in the country in each of the years 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62631/22]

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Written answers

Minister for Social Protection

The Community Welfare Service (CWS) delivers the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme which is the safety net within the overall social welfare system. This scheme helps eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. Supports provided under the SWA scheme can consist of a basic weekly payment, a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of certain expenses, as well as single Additional Needs Payments (ANPs).

The basic SWA provides immediate assistance for those in need who are awaiting the outcome of a claim or an appeal for a primary social welfare payment or do not qualify for payment under other State schemes.

Rent Supplement provides short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The scheme ensures that for those who were renting, but whose circumstances have changed due to temporary loss of employment, can continue to meet their rental commitments.

Under the SWA scheme, the Department can make ANPs to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary.

An Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) is a single payment to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. An urgent needs payment (UNP) may be made to persons who may not normally qualify for SWA but who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources or where an alternative is not available at that time.

Decisions on SWA applications are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case.

While information on SWA schemes is not collated by Intreo Centre, it can be provided by county.

The table below provides the breakdown of basic SWA and ANP registered claims by county in the period January to September 2022:

County	Basic SWA	ANPs
Carlow	993	1,532
Cavan	1,010	1,614
Clare	1,988	3,663
Cork	5,203	7,988
Donegal	1,869	4,932
Dublin	14,798	29,264
Galway	2,547	4,484
Kerry	2,743	4,762
Kildare	1,921	3,213
Kilkenny	1,210	2,131
Laois	1,084	2,028
Leitrim	494	1,405
Limerick	2,278	3,674
Longford	561	2,048
Louth	1,901	2,807
Mayo	1,475	2,677
Meath	1,889	3,906
Monaghan	479	685
Offaly	1,049	2,134
Roscommon	826	1,389
Sligo	943	1,928
Tipperary	1,895	3,521
Waterford	1,639	2,905
Westmeath	1,288	3,155
Wexford	2,264	2,652
Wicklow	1,723	3,118
Unknown	-	59
Total	56,070	103,674

The table below provides the breakdown of awarded Rent Supplement (RS) claims by county as at the end of December 2020, 2021 and September 2022:

County	Dec-20	Dec-21	Sep-22
Carlow	191	149	111
Cavan	192	149	145
Clare	132	61	58
Cork	2,357	1,858	1,516
Donegal	142	71	56
Dublin	10,018	6,973	5,071
Galway	831	537	370
Kerry	739	442	360
Kildare	879	630	455
Kilkenny	132	66	42
Laois	124	53	38
Leitrim	62	36	25
Limerick	446	283	217
Longford	64	44	34
Louth	165	108	106
Mayo	279	180	141
Meath	277	172	129
Monaghan	117	106	97
Offaly	61	61	44
Roscommon	131	86	57
Sligo	138	88	60
Tipperary	194	122	107
Waterford	116	60	55
Westmeath	392	274	203
Wexford	411	280	218
Wicklow	714	512	403
Total	19,304	13,401	10,118

I trust this clarifies the matter.