Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
720. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider amending the criteria for fuel allowance so that those who are living with children of working age who are earning a low income and not in receipt of one of the qualifying payments for fuel allowance would not be disqualified from the fuel allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36612/23]
View answerThe Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €412 million in 2023. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per 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.
The Fuel Allowance guidelines allow a fuel applicant to live with a qualified spouse / civil partner / cohabitant or qualified child(ren). For the purposes of Fuel Allowance, a qualified child is one for whom an Increase for a Qualified Child is payable, or in the case of an applicant with no primary social welfare scheme, the child must be in full-time education if aged between 18 and 22. The fact that the qualified child may be in employment is not taken into consideration when deciding the fuel allowance claim and any earnings the qualified child may have, are also not taken into consideration when assessing household means.
An unqualified family member, who is living with a fuel allowance applicant, may result in a reduction of additional allowances such as the Fuel Allowance payment to the householder. However, the economies of scale from living together should mean that a contribution towards household costs by the family member would compensate for any such reduction in payments from my Department.
A change in the qualifying criteria such as that proposed by the Deputy, would have to be considered in the context of budgetary negotiations. However, disregarding the income of another family member, would change the targeted nature of the scheme.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
