Vol. 497 No. 5
274 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of social welfare recipients, including the recipients of adult dependant increases whose incomes from social welfare are less than the target rates recommended by the Commission of Social Welfare in 1986; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25503/98]
At the end of September 1998, social welfare payments issued to over 781,300 recipients, 93 per cent of which were at or above the minimum rates recommended by the Commission on Social Welfare, in 1998 terms. Payments to an estimated 59,200 recipients of supplementary welfare allowance and short-term unemployment assistance were approximately 3 per cent below the CSW target rate.
The commission did not set a specific minimum rate for adult dependant allowances, now known as qualified adult allowance. The commission did, however, recommend that the appropriate rate for a couple should be 1.6 times the basic personal rate. At the end of September 1998, there were some 122,000 qualified adult allowances in payment. In over 57,000, or 47 per cent, of these cases, the rate for the couple was at least 1.6 times the commission's minimum payment for a single person.
The question of further increases in social welfare payment rates will be covered in tomorrow's budget.
