Vol. 526 No. 6
333 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on a submission made by a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny, regarding widow's pension and in particular her own case where she falls short of the contributions required to qualify for a widow's pension; if he will address the situation in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27393/00]
The widow(er)'s pension schemes recognise the particular difficulties that arise for people following the death of a spouse.
The qualifying conditions for the widow(er)'s contributory pension are already very flexible. For instance, to satisfy the yearly average condition, a widow(er)'s entitlement may be based on either the full social insurance record or the record over the previous three or five years. A widow/er may qualify on either his-her own or the late spouse's insurance record; in addition, social insurance contributions paid or credited under the National Health Insurance Acts since 1936 may be used to satisfy the requirement that 156 contributions are paid.
In the circumstances, there are no plans at present to alter the qualifying conditions. However, the position will be kept under review.
A widow(er)'s non-contributory pension is available to those, without children, who do not qualify for a contributory pension. Those with children may qualify for the one-parent family payment. Both schemes are subject to a means test.
The entitlement of the person concerned was assessed on her own social insurance contribution record. No contributions have been traced in her late husband's name. As she does not have sufficient contributions to meet the minimum standard required for a pension her application was rejected.
334 Mr. P. Carey asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the reason a per son (details supplied) in Dublin 11 has been refused the back to work allowance. [27397/00]
The objective of the back to work allowance scheme is to provide a financial incentive to lone parents and long-term unemployed persons to return to the active labour force.
The scheme has a limited number of places and it is targeted at people who need the additional income support which the scheme provides in order to make it financially attractive to them to return to employment. The rules of the scheme therefore require that an application must be made prior to taking up employment.
Claims made after the person has started work indicate that the person was in a position to take up employment without the need for the financial support which the scheme provides.
The person concerned commenced employment on 17 July 2000. His application was received in the Department on 5 October 2000 and was refused on the basis that it was late.
Question No. 335 withdrawn.
