Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
926. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection if, in line with Action 68 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, she has plans to benchmark the rate of disability allowance and other social protection payments to ensure that autistic recipients can achieve a minimum essential standard of living; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57315/23]
View answerThe Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) is an assessment of the minimum income needed to live and partake in the social and economic norms of everyday life for various household types.
My Department has partly funded this excellent, detailed work of the Vincentian MESL Research Centre at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and I find it extremely useful.
One of the benefits of the work is that it provides an analysis of the different levels of income needed for a wide range of household types, including the different costs that arise for households in rural and urban locations. However, differentiating social welfare payment rates based on location would be problematic and could lead to inequities being created within the welfare system.
The MESL research also highlights issues that may be better solved with greater access to services, rather than increases in income. In this regard, having access to secondary benefits such as medical cards and supports in the areas of housing and childcare can result in significant reductions in the minimum income standards needed by households. This is also the case for additional costs associated with having a disability, which the Indecon Cost of Disability report found are significantly broader than income supports. These costs run across many areas of expenditure, including housing, transport, health, and education, and need to be addressed across Government. This presents another difficulty in using the MESL as a benchmark for the level of social welfare payments alone.
The estimated annual cost of bringing weekly social welfare rates in line with the MESL, including the Qualified Child Increase, would be approximately €2.3 billion.
Over recent years I have improved supports for people with disabilities through weekly rate increases and cost of living payments. In Budget 2024 the following measures were announced which people on long-term disability supports may benefit from:
• €400 once-off payment for Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Invalidity Pension and Carer’s Support Grant recipients;
• €100 lump sum for each Qualified Child;
• Double Child Benefit payment;
• €200 lump sum Living Alone Allowance payment;
• €300 lump sum Fuel Allowance payment;
• Christmas Bonus double payment;
• January Cost of Living Bonus double payment.
Also, as part of Budget 2024, I introduced:
• €12 increase in the maximum personal rate of weekly payments from January 2024;
• Increase the weekly rate for each Qualified Child by €4;
• Reduce the minimum weekly hours threshold for employers to avail of the Wage Subsidy Scheme from 21 to 15 hours from April 2024;
• Extend Free Travel to people medically certified as unfit to drive from July 2024;
• Extend Child Benefit to 18 year olds in full time education from September 2024.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
