Vol. 467 No. 3
6 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether he has satisfied himself that all aspects of the transfer of the disabled person's maintenance allowance are in place to ensure the smooth transfer of the scheme to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12944/96]
The Social Welfare Act, 1996, contains provision to enable the transfer of the administration of the disabled person's maintenance allowance scheme from the health boards to this Department. The Act also provides for some significant improvements in the conditions of the scheme and the assessment of means, as well as a change of title to disability allowance. It is intended that the transfer will be effective from 2 October 1996.
The necessary arrangements are being made at present and involve my Department, the Department of Health and the eight health boards working together to effect the transfer. I am confident that all the issues arising in this fairly complex process will be resolved in time to enable the transfer to take place smoothly as planned and with the minimum inconvenience to recipients of the allowance.
Will there be an information campaign aimed at the recipients of disabled person's maintenance allowance, many of whom are anxious to know the position? Does the Minister intend to meet the voluntary organisations to clarify the present position? What is the Minister's timescale regarding the necessary commencement orders and regulations?
As I indicated in my reply, the intention is that the transfer will be effective from 2 October 1996. All necessary orders and arrangements will be in place before that date to ensure that people have their books and in a position to make their claims on and after that date.
On the question of information, we have consulted widely on the transfer of this scheme. I am sure that, being involved at constituency level, the Deputy knows disabled person's maintenance allowance is currently administered by eight health boards with different administrative procedures. We have had to take on board all the information from eight boards and codify and simplify it to make it possible to ensure that every person who has an entitlement on 2 October will receive payment.
In taking the scheme in hand we have provided for a number of important improvements in it. We are providing a disregard of £45 a week plus travel expenses in respect of the earnings of the working spouse. We are also providing a significant improvement in the provision for the assessment of capital, including a disregard of the first £2,000. We are providing for the payment of two full personal rates of payment where both spouses are in receipt of the allowance. We are providing that where a person on disability allowance goes into hospital, provision is made for its continued payment for a further 13 weeks. This is an improvement on the existing regulation which allows payment for only eight weeks in any calendar year. Where a dependent child remains in full-time education, an allowance will be made in respect of him or her until reaching the age of 22 — this allowance is currently paid up to age 21. Where a dependent child goes into hospital, child allowance will no longer be terminated after eight weeks. In addition we are seeking to guarantee that everyone who has an entitlement will be paid by the Department as and from 2 October. We had a range of consultations with a variety of organisations last year and again this year. My understanding is that the concerns raised by the various voluntary organisations dealing with people with disabilities are being dealt with by my Department. There is no reason for any person currently in receipt of disabled person's maintenance allowance to be concerned. They will receive their money and nobody will be at a loss. Many will be better off as a result of the transfer.
I would like clarification on this. When will the persons in receipt of disabled person's maintenance allowance receive information from the Department as to the implications for them personally? Will they get it in July, August or September?
The target date for the transfer is October 1996. Areas which have been addressed by the project team include claims processing, investigation of means, medical assessments, links with other health services and payment methods. It is intended to administer the scheme from the Department of Social Welfare offices in Longford which also deal with the other long-term disability schemes. On transfer, disabled person's maintenance allowance will be paid in all cases initially by personalised payable order books which can be cashed at post offices. A person may also appoint an agent on his or her behalf to cash the payment if he or she is unable to do so. Payment by electronic fund transfer is currently being examined both for individual clients and for making bulk payments to training agencies who have large numbers of people in receipt of disabled person's maintenance allowance in training at any particular time. I have no doubt that before 2 October, and in good time, people who are currently in receipt of disabled person's maintenance allowance will receive information on the payments and where they should go. My expectation is that they will be asked to nominate the post office from which they want to have their payment made and, if they are not in a position to go and collect the payment themselves, to nominate somebody who is in a position to do that.
Staff from the Departments of Social Welfare and Health and the health boards have worked very hard to ensure that this transfer will be smooth, that it will be an improvement for many and that no one will be at a loss as a result.
The Minister has spoken about the improvement it will bring for existing disabled person's maintenance allowance holders. The community welfare officers provide information on disabled person's maintenance allowance and advise eligible people to apply for it. They are employed by the health boards. Will they now come within the purview of the Department of Social Welfare?
In order to qualify for a disabled person's maintenance allowance and subsequently, after October, for the disability allowance, a person will have to be medically approved as being entitled to it. That will continue to be done by the health boards. The assessment of means will be carried out by the Department of Social Welfare. The community welfare officers are employed by the health boards but the funding of community welfare officers and the moneys they disburse are provided by the Department of Social Welfare, not by the Department of Health. The funds for the disability allowance will come from the Department of Social Welfare. The means assessment test will be carried out by the Department of Social Welfare. The medical verification of entitlement will continue to be carried out by the health board.
Will the Minister clarify this point? As of now, within whose purview do community welfare officers come? Will it change? Will they come under the Department of Social Welfare, not the Department of Health, in future?
The Department of Social Welfare will deliver the disability allowance scheme and it will be administered from the Department's Longford office.
That is not the point I am trying to make. If somebody goes to the local community welfare officer seeking information on eligibility for disabled person's maintenance allowance, the community welfare officer advises the person and forms are issued if appropriate. I understand community welfare officers are employed by the Department of Health. Under the new provisions will they be employed by the Department of Social Welfare?
No. The Department of Social Welfare will not employ staff operating from health boards. When a person goes to the local health board clinic inquiring about the disability allowance, he or she will be referred to the Department of Social Welfare to make the application.
Will the recipients be entitled to the same benefits they were entitled to under the health boards? Will the Minister give me an assurance that applications will be processed as quickly as they were by the health boards?
I can assure the Deputy that the applications will be processed as least as fast as they were processed by the health boards. The rate of processing varied from health board to health board. The rules were applied differently by various health boards. We are standardising the way in which applications will be assessed. Obviously there will be a requirement for a person to be approved by a doctor to be medically entitled to the allowance. Not only will a means test be carried out, but there will also be a medical requirement to prove the person's medical eligibility for the allowance.
I welcome the decision to transfer the disabled person's maintenance allowance to the Department of Social Welfare. I understand from the Minister's reply to Deputy O'Rourke that in future the social welfare officer will be the investigating officer and the community welfare officer will not be involved in this. All maintenance payments except supplementary welfare allowance will be paid from the Department of Social Welfare; supplementary welfare allowance will still be paid by the community welfare officer. Does the Minister envisage that his Department might take over the payment of supplementary welfare allowance to ensure that people who are granted the allowance are paid in time?
The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is a scheme of last resort whereby people whose income falls below certain levels, usually for a temporary period, can go to a community welfare officer in the local clinic to seek assistance to top up their income. The delivery of that income has been brought into the Department of Social Welfare's integrated short-term schemes computer system. It will enable community welfare officers to deliver faster decisions on claims for supplementary welfare. There are no plans to take the scheme entirely within the purview of the Department of Social Welfare. Clearly there are major staffing implications in doing that. The community welfare officers are currently employed by health boards, although the budget for their pay and the money they disburse is provided by the Department of Social Welfare. I have no doubt that this will be addressed in the near future but I am not too sure what the outcome will be.
Does the Minister not accept that it would be a logical progression that all maintenance payments be made by the same Department because there are difficulties with the present system?
There are arguments in favour of what the Deputy says but the community welfare officers' view is that their role is wider than the question of providing temporary top ups of income. Their very title implies they are integrated as part of a team at local level provided by the health boards to support families at risk. Whether it would be wise to separate the income support aspect of that support and bring it into the Department of Social Welfare, leaving the community welfare officer without any such role is questionable. However, if we were to bring into the Department of Social Welfare the community welfare officer and the income maintenance function as one task, we would be leaving the question of their wider role, in tandem with other members of the community team that the health boards provide, open for discussion as well.
On the face of it, it seems simple to transfer all the income maintenance schemes to the Department of Social Welfare. However, it is a much more problematic area when one looks at the diverse role which a community welfare officer ought to have. In theory the officer has that role but in practice it is only some cases.
