Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2023
356. Deputy Joe Flaherty asked the Minister for Social Protection if a person who was forced to stop working 20 years ago, now aged 61 years and in receipt of a local authority pension of €294 per week is eligible for the household benefits package. [46240/23]
View answerThe Household Benefits Package comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €285 million this year on the Household Benefits Package. Approximately 517,000 households are in receipt of the Household Benefits package.
People over the age of 70 receive the Household Benefits package, with one package provided per household. The package is also available to people living in the State aged 66-69 years who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments or who satisfy a means test.
Access to the Household Benefits Package for those aged under 66 is a secondary benefit linked to a person being in receipt of certain primary Social Protection payments such as Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Carer’s Allowance, Blind Pension and Partial Capacity Benefit.
A local authority pension is not a qualifying payment for the Household Benefits package. Therefore, a person aged under 66 who is in receipt of a local authority pension is not eligible for the Household Benefits Package.
Finally, the Department of Social Protection provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme for people who have an essential need, which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Officers.
I trust that this clarifies these matters for the Deputy.
