Vol. 434 No. 2
163 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Social Welfare if, in view of falling interest rates, the method of calculating interest on lumps sums will be altered in view of the fact that people with an income of £30 to £40 per week are currently being refused non-contributory schemes as interest is being calculated at 10 per cent which is far in excess of the interest rates available.
Under social welfare legislation applicants for social assistance payments who have capital assets such as investments, savings or property other than their home are deemed, for the purposes of means assessment, to have an income from these assets. In assessing the value of such assets income is calculated on a predetermined yield, with some variations across different schemes. In most schemes the capital assets are only reckoned to yield income when they are worth more than certain threshold levels. In addition an initial portion of such assets is assessed, in all schemes, at 5 per cent. The 10 per cent notional rate referred to by the Deputy applies to assets over a certain level under the old age pension and unemployment assistance schemes.
Furthermore, under the old age pension scheme a person can have means from all sources of up to £6 per week and still qualify for the maximum pension. In the case of a married couple this would be £12 per week. In relation to capital alone, the current regulations allow a married couple to have joint capital of £6,000 and still qualify for the maximum pension. They could have joint capital of £64,200 and still qualify for the minimum rate of pension. The question of any changes in the present means-testing arrangements would be a matter to be considered in a budgetary context.
