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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Nov 1999

Vol. 510 No. 1

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.

Deirdre Clune

Ceist:

123 Ms Clune asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the plans, if any, he has to improve the allowances paid to widows in view of the fact they generally live alone and do not have an opportunity to provide for themselves because of their commitment to their children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21927/99]

The widow(er)'s pension schemes recognise the particular financial difficulties that arise for people following the death of a spouse. The qualifying conditions for the widow(er)'s contributory pension scheme are more flexible than those applying to the old age and retirement pensions. Widowed people can qualify by using either their own or their late spouse's social insurance record; in addition, a person may also use the full social insurance record or the record over the previous three or five years.

The weekly rate of the widow(er)'s contributory pension – £82.10 per week for those over 66 and under 80 years of age – is now 114 per cent of the main rate recommended by the commission on social welfare.

A widow's and widower's non-contributory pension is available to those, without children, who do not qualify for the contributory pension. This is payable subject to a means test. The maximum rate of the widow(er)'s non-contributory pension – £78.50 for those over 66 and under 80 years of age – is 109 per cent of the commission's recommended rate. Title to these pensions also gives access to the free schemes where the person is over 66 years of age. In this context, special measures are in place to ensure that households do not suffer the loss of entitlements following the death of a spouse. Widows/widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of the free schemes retain that entitlement.
The rate of the one parent family payment – £78.50 for those over 66 – has also reached 109 per cent of the recommended CSW rate. This payment is available to widowed people with children who do not qualify for a contributory widow(er)'s pension. It is available to both men and women who are parenting alone and is designed to, first, provide basic income support, taking into account the special needs and requirements of single parents and, second, to encourage lone parents to return to the workforce so that, over time, they can achieve a greater degree of economic independence. To this end, an earnings disregard of £115.38 per week is available under the one-parent family payment means test to those lone parents in employment.
The question of future improvements in social welfare provisions for widows and widowers – as for all social welfare clients – is a matter for consideration by the Government in a budgetary context.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

124 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the cost of introducing a tapered withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance to old age and invalidity pensioners which currently apply to recipients of short-term benefits where the spouse or partner of the claimant has income between £60 and £105; and if he will introduce this change. [21946/99]

The regulations which allow for the tapered withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance when the spouse or partner of the claimant has income of between £60 and £105 currently apply to recipients of unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance, disability benefit, disability allowance, pre-retirement allowance, injury benefit and unemployability supplement.

I will be examining the potential for introducing further enhancements of these arrangements, including the issue of applying the tapering arrangements to cover such other payments as old age and invalidity pensions, in the context of the forthcoming budget, having regard to the resources available and to the range of other priorities.
While firm costings of the application of the tapering arrangements to old age and invalidity pensions have not been finalised as yet, it is tentatively estimated at this stage that the costs involved could be of the order of £3 million in a full year.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

125 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on ESRI research that, at income levels similar to current social welfare rates, the income required by a couple to reach the same standard of living as a single adult is 170 per cent of the single adult rate; and his views on whether the qualified adult allowance should be increased to 70 per cent. [21947/99]

The report of the working group examining the treatment of married, cohabiting and one-parent families under the tax and social welfare codes was published in August this year.

As part of its work the group commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute – ESRI – to undertake research on a number of issues including the relationship of the qualified adult allowance – QAA – to the personal rate of payment in the social welfare code. At present the QAA is paid at approximately 60 per cent of the personal rate which is the level recommended by the commission on social welfare. Based on its research, the ESRI suggested that 70 per cent would be a more appropriate level. The estimated cost of increasing the QAA to the level suggested by the ESRI is £50 million per annum.

In conducting its research the ESRI used a new approach to arrive at the level suggested for the QAA. This involved using non-monetary indicators derived from the Living in Ireland Survey 1994 to arrive at a suggested monetary value. Because of the novel nature of the approach some consider that the results cannot, as yet, be regarded as definitive. Nevertheless, the research makes a significant contribution to the debate about the relative living costs of different types of household and the research findings will be considered further in the context of the forthcoming budget.

Deirdre Clune

Ceist:

126 Ms Clune asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will amend legislation to ensure that the disability allowance payment paid to an individual in his or her own right is not reduced by considering the earnings of a spouse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21953/99]

As in the case of all other social assistance payments, disability allowance is subject to a means test. For the purposes of assessing means, account is taken of the claimant's own means and, in the case of a couple, the joint means are assessed. In this regard, recipients of disability allowance are treated in the same way as recipients of all other social assistance payments, e.g. unemployment assistance, old age non-contributory pensions, etc.

In assessing the means of a claimant's spouse for disability allowance purposes, account is taken of the spouse's net earnings, that is earnings net of income tax, PRSI, health insurance contributions, superannuation and union dues. A certain amount of the spouse's earnings from employment is disregarded – £45 where they are working four days or more, £30 where they are working between one and three days. In addition, an extra allowance may be made for reasonable travel expenses to work. Half of the spouse's net income is then assessed as means.

Any relaxation of the means test along the lines suggested by the Deputy would have financial implications and would have to be considered in a budgetary context, in the light of available resources and having regard to the Government's other priorities. It would also raise equity issues vis-à-vis other recipients: it would be difficult to justify disregarding spouse's income in cases of disability allowance and not doing so in the case of other social assistance payments.

On the wider question of individualising social welfare payments, this matter was recently examined by the working group on the treatment of married, cohabiting and one-parent families under the tax and social welfare codes. Several options were considered by the group, and while no agreement was reached, it was noted that individualisation was taking place through the expansion of the social insurance system with increasing workforce participation by women and the extension of social insurance cover to part-time workers in the early 1990's.

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