Vol. 471 No. 1
199 Mr. Kenneally asked the Minister for Social Welfare the additional cost to his Department if twin births were treated the same as triplets and double child benefit rates applied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20398/96]
Child benefit is payable in respect of all children up to age 16 and to age 19 in respect of children who are in full-time education or are physically or mentally challenged. Child benefit is payable at double the normal rate for each child where three or more children are born together.
In recognition of the significant additional costs involved for parents of twins, I made provision in the 1996 budget for increasing the grant in respect of the birth of twins from £200 to £500 and for the introduction of a new grant of £500 which is payable on the twins reaching the ages of four and 12. While these improvements were announced in the context of this year's budget, they were backdated to apply to all newborn twins and those reaching the ages of four and 12 respectively on or after 1 January 1996. To date over 1,400 families have benefited at a cost of almost £700,000.
In addition to the improved grants, the monthly rates of child benefit have been increased to £29 for the first two children and to £34 for the third and subsequent children. When taken together with the increases provided for in the 1995 budget, these rates represent an increase of 45 per cent in the rate payable for the first two children and 36 per cent in the higher rate payable in respect of other children.
Assistance with back to school expenses is also provided under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered by the health boards and funded by my Department. This year, I increased the back to school clothing and footwear allowance to £43 in respect of children from two to 11 years of age and £58 in respect of qualified children from 12 to 22 years of age. This allowance benefits some 114,000 families with 270,000 children.
Based on the present rates of payment, the cost of paying double child benefit in respect of twins would be in the region of £8.5 million in a full year.
200 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of persons in County Mayo in receipt of social welfare benefit, under each category, who will not be eligible for a Christmas bonus. [20414/96]
201 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will give details of the social welfare schemes which will not benefit from the Christmas bonus scheme; and the estimated cost of extending the scheme to those in receipt of sick and disability benefits and allowances. [20415/96]
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 200 and 201 together.
The Government decided last month to approve the payment of a Christmas bonus again this year to certain social welfare recipients and others at a total cost of £41.7 million. As in previous years, the bonus will amount to 70 per cent of normal weekly payments and there will be a minimum payment of £20. It will be paid during the first week of December and will benefit almost 800,000 recipients and their 500,000 dependants, that is a total of 1.3 million beneficiaries.
In line with previous years, the bonus will be paid to people in receipt of long-term social welfare payments, including those receiving old age, retirement, widows'-widowers', invalidity pensions, lone parent's allowance, unemployment assistance at the long-term rate, carer's allowance, disability allowance, formerly disabled person's maintenance allowance — as well as FÁS and CERT trainees.
People in receipt of short-term social welfare payments are not eligible for the Christmas bonus; these include recipients of unemployment benefit, short-term unemployment assistance, disability benefit, supplementary welfare allowance, maternity benefit, adoptive benefit and health and safety benefit. The cost of extending the bonus to recipients of disability benefit is estimated to be of the order of £2.4 million. As stated above, recipients of disability allowance are eligible for the bonus.
The number of people in County Mayo who are eligible for the Christmas bonus is of the order of 22,500, not including those in receipt of disability allowance, the figures for which are not yet available on a county basis. It does not include also those on community employment, FÁS schemes, CERT trainees or those getting long-term health board payments, all of which are relevant to other Government Departments. The corresponding number of people in County Mayo in receipt of a social welfare payment in respect of which a Christmas bonus is not payable is about 8,000. The categories are unemployment benefit with 1,600 recipients, short-term unemployment assistance, with 4,700 recipients, disability benefit with 1,100 recipients, supplementary welfare allowance with 500 recipients and maternity benefit with 100 recipients.
