Vol. 481 No. 5
17 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will introduce similar means assessments for widows who are in receipt of widow's non-contributory pensions and who have no qualifying children as that in existence for widows with qualifying children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16415/97]
The different methods of assessing means under the one-parent family payment for a widow with child dependants, and non-contributory widow's pension for a widow with no child dependants, reflect the fact that, in addition to widowhood, widows with child dependants face additional difficulties.
Economic and social research has shown that one-parent families are particularly vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion and so the one-parent family payment is designed to both provide basic income support for lone parents, taking into account the special needs and requirements of single parents raising children, and encourage lone parents to return to the workforce so that over time they can become less reliant on social welfare payments for their income needs.
This is the rationale behind the earnings disregard of £6,000 available to lone parents under the one-parent family payment means test. I am confident that over time providing such positive support to lone parents will result in their achieving a greater degree of economic independence. However, the extension of this earnings disregard to other social welfare recipient — such as widows without child dependants — who do not face the same economic difficulties — would obviously have cost implications and could only be considered in a budgetary context.
20 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will extend the period of unemployment benefit entitlement for those who cease insurable employment after age 60 until age 65; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16421/97]
Unemployment benefit is payable for a maximum of 15 months (390 days) for people generally and for six months (156 days) in the case of people under age 18. However, people aged 65 are entitled to receive unemployment benefit, beyond 15 months, up to the date on which they reach age 66, provided that they have at least 156 weeks (three years) paid PRSI contributions.
This special arrangement for people aged 65 and over acts as a bridging mechanism and ensures that such a person is enabled to avoid a situation where he/she could lose entitlement to any social welfare payment for a very limited period prior to reaching pension age. It is not intended to be a more general income support mechanism, and therefore I do not believe that it would be appropriate to extend the period of unemployment benefit entitlement along the lines suggested by the Deputy.
22 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will make available free electricity and telephone rental allowances to all pensioners over 75 years of age regardless of means. [16489/97]
The free schemes, including the free electricity allowance and the free telephone rental allowance are available to people, usually aged 66 or over, who are in receipt of a welfare type payment and who are either living alone or who otherwise satisfy the living alone condition. In addition, widows between the age of 60 and 65, whose late husbands had entitlement to the free schemes, retain that entitlement.
A change in the qualifying conditions for the free schemes was introduced in the 1996 budget. This allows new applicants over age 75, who were previously required to satisfy more rigorous household composition rules, to be assessed in the same way as all other persons in that age category. This means that their household composition will not affect their eligibility for the free schemes. Effectively now all persons over age 75 who are in receipt of a qualifying payment may qualify for the free schemes.
In addition, the free schemes were extended in July 1996 to include low-income pensioners who were not in receipt of a social welfare type payment. The weekly income limit fixed for this purpose is the maximum personal rate of old age (contributory) pension (currently £78 per week), plus any increases for dependants, plus £30.
To extend the free electricity allowance and the free telephone rental allowance to all people over the age of 75 would involve significant additional expenditure which could only be examined in a budgetary context.
