Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
Seymour Crawford
Ceist:
167
Mr. Crawford
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the length of the delay in dealing with applications for old age pensions, carers allowances, farm assist and free schemes in general; if 14 weeks is the norm for carers' forms for example; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15428/01]
My Department is committed to providing an efficient service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlements are issued as expeditiously as possible having regard to the eligibility conditions which apply. The average time to award claims for old age non contributory and old age contributory pension is currently eight weeks, for carer's allowance 13 weeks, for farm assist five weeks and for free schemes eight weeks.
In determining entitlement under any of my Department's schemes there may be PRSI contribution conditions, means or medical conditions or conditions relating to household circumstances to be satisfied. There is inevitably a time lag involved in making the necessary investigations and inquiries to enable timely and accurate decisions to be made. The time taken to process individual claims varies significantly having regard to the difficulty or otherwise in establishing the circumstances in each case.
It should be noted, however, that many applicants for income support payments frequently are in receipt of another social welfare payment while their claim is being processed. Such payments will normally continue until entitlement to pension or allowance is determined. Any award of entitlement applies from the date on which the application is made or the date the person reaches pension age. In the case of the old age pension, claims can be made up to three months in advance of the person attaining pension age and in such cases, pensions can be put into payment as soon as the person attains the specified age.
In recent years there have been a number of very significant improvements made to the carer's allowance scheme. The number of persons who now receive carer's allowance has increased from 10,330 at the end of December 1997, to 17,160 in May 2001. The number of claims now being received from carer's allowance is double the intake over previous years. The scope of the free scheme has also been greatly extended in the last two budgets. It is expected that an additional 80,000 claims will be processed this year, almost doubling the normal annual new claim intake.
Any increase of this magnitude impacts to some degree on the capacity to process claims quickly. Additional staff resources have been applied by the Department to deal with the extra work volumes for both carer's allowance and free schemes and further resources are being assigned to deal with the extra claim intake. Every effort is made to process all claims as quickly as possible having regard to the eligibility condition governing these schemes. Any delay in the processing of claims will not result in any loss of entitlement to the people concerned.
Nora Owen
Ceist:
168
Mrs. Owen
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he will change the current situation where PRSI contributions made by students under 25 are not allowable for assessing eligibility for dental and optical benefits once that person is over 25; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15437/01]
The treatment benefit scheme operated by my Department provides a range of benefits in the areas of dental, optical and aural treatment for qualified PRSI contributors and their dependent spouses. PRSI contributions payable by employees at appropriate rates, Class A, E and H, provide social insurance cover for treatment benefits. However, to qualify for benefit a person must satisfy certain contribution conditions which vary depending on the age of the insured person. I assume the Deputy's question refers to the failure by some persons over age 25 years in satisfying these contribution conditions.
Persons aged under 21 years of age must have at least 39 weeks PRSI paid since first starting work in order to qualify while persons aged from 21 to 24 years of age must have at least 39 weeks PRSI paid since first starting work and 39 weeks paid or credited in the relevant tax year of which a minimum of 13 weeks must be paid contributions. In the case of persons aged from 25 to 65 years of age the requirement is that they have at least 260 weeks PRSI paid since first starting work and 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year of which a minimum of 13 weeks must be paid contributions.
The contribution conditions for treatment benefit are generally in line with those applying to other contributory benefit schemes. These conditions are necessary to ensure the continuing viability of the scheme while directing limited resources towards those in greatest need. They also ensure a realistic relationship between entitlement to benefit and a continuing or recent attachment to the workforce through an active PRSI contribution record. The lower contribution requirement for a person under 25 is in recognition of the fact that a younger person may have entered insurable employment relatively recently and would have difficulty meeting the higher condition.
Any changes in the insurance conditions for receipt of treatment benefits would have financial implications and is a matter for consideration within the constraints of budgetary policy and the best targeting of available resources. While I have no specific proposals, at present, for changing the qualifying conditions or entitlements under the dental or other areas of the treatment benefit scheme the operation of the scheme is subject to ongoing monitoring by my Department.
Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:
169
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the progress made to liberalise the free travel schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15498/01]
Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:
170
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he will examine the possibility of extending the free electricity allowance to a wider group of people; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15499/01]
Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:
173
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he will extend the free telephone rental allowance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15502/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 169, 170 and 173 together.
The free travel scheme is available to all people resident in the State aged 66 years or over, as well as to carers and people with disabilities who are in receipt of certain welfare payments. The scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services, including road, rail and ferry services provided by semi-State companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, and services provided by 80 private transport operators. My Department is always willing to consider further applications from licensed private transport operators who may wish to participate in the free travel scheme.
Other free schemes, including the free electricity or gas allowance, free telephone rental allowance and free television licence schemes, are generally available to people living in the State aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who fulfil a means test. They are also available to carers and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. Widows and widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of the free schemes retain that entitlement to ensure that households do not suffer a loss of entitlements following the death of a spouse. From October 2000, the free schemes were extended to all persons aged 75 and over, regardless of their income and household composition. In addition, provision was made in budget 2001 to further extend the free schemes to all persons aged 70 years and over from this month.
With regard to further extensions of the schemes, a review of them, which was published by the Policy Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, in April last year, noted that they share a common set of objectives in the area of social inclusion, namely, to provide assistance to those living alone by targeting them with specific benefits providing both income and social inclusion gains, to support older people and people with disabilities in their wish to remain in the community as opposed to institutional care and to support Government policy which seeks to acknowledge the value of older people in society. The review of the free schemes examined the many demands to extend the free schemes to other groups using social inclusion objectives as the criteria for decision. It considered that the schemes as currently constituted provide a basic package that ensures a limited standard of comfort or well-being to a particular targeted group, that is based on age or disability.
The review noted that, where payment levels are adequate, any extension of the free schemes must be based solely on increased social benefits that are over and above those which can be purchased by increased income. Accordingly, the review concluded that the schemes should not be extended further to additional groups of people or to include other types of schemes. Overall the proposals in the review will be examined in the context of future budgets and available resources.
Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:
171
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the progress in relation to the speeding up of the process of entitlements to social welfare benefits from different jurisdictions under the aegis of the bilateral arrangement; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15500/01]
The speed with which claims to benefits under bilateral agreements can be processed is dependent not just on my Department but on the institutions in the other countries party to the agreement. My Department must supply the PRSI records and other details to the other country's institution and wait to receive corresponding information from it. The processing of the claim and the award of the benefit cannot proceed until this information is received and difficulties can arise in relation to incomplete information being provided. In the case of some EU countries to which the EU regulations on social security apply, documents and information exchanged have to be translated which can further add to delays.
An initial review of the current situation regarding the processing of these claims has been completed. The next stage will involve obtaining more detailed information on certain aspects with a view to establishing if certain administrative procedures can be modified to speed up the claims processing by my Department. Any changed procedures will be documented in the guidance notes to ensure full continuity of procedures irrespective of staff turnover. The review is also documenting the response times of the institutions in the other countries and the reasons why delays may be occurring. These can vary from country to country. The intention is to bring these to the attention of the authorities in the other countries in a systematic way with a view to satisfactory solutions being found.
Question No. 172 answered with Question No. 33.
Question No. 173 answered with Question No. 169.
Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:
174
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
if he has given any instructions to the effect of restricting by way of means testing or other methods, access to any of the various categories of social welfare entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15503/01]
The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs administers a broad range of income support payments, comprising insurance – PRSI – based payments and social assistance – means tested – payments. Since coming into office, I have introduced significant improvements across the full range of supports provided by my Department at a total cost of over £1.8 billion. These include significant improvements in means testing arrangements. I have not introduced any restrictions to the means testing arrangements within my Department. Nor have I made any other policy changes aimed at restricting access to payments. If the Deputy has a particular concern in mind, he should contact me and I will have the matter examined. A list of improvements to means testing sine 1998 is set out below.
In 1998, the calculation for family income supplement – FIS – changed from a gross income to a net income basis and FIS weekly income thresholds increased by £7. The weekly rehabilitative earnings disregard for disability allowance and blind person's pension purposes was increased from £36.30 to £50. Non-national disability pensions up to the level of maximum rate of old age contributory pension were disregarded for carer's allowance purposes. Rental income was exempted from the assessment of means for widow's non-contributory pension purposes, where income is in respect of a person who lives with and pays rent to the pensioner.
Revised arrangements for assessing capital were extended to the rent allowance scheme for former controlled tenancies so that the first £2,000 is disregarded, the next £20,000 is assessed at 7.5% and the balance assessed at 15%. The existing disregard for income under the REP scheme which applied to the unemployment assistance, pre-retirement allowance and old age non-contributory pension schemes was improved so that the first £2,000 is exempted with the balance being assessed at 50%. Enhanced arrangements were also extended to the special scheme of compensation for compliance with the special areas of conservation conditions.
In 1999, a new means-tested farm assist scheme with enhanced income disregards for farmers on low income was introduced. Improvements were made in the operation of the means test for unemployment assistance for fishermen along the lines of the improvements for farmers under the farm assist scheme. FIS weekly income thresholds were increased by £8. The existing weekly spousal income disregard of £150 for carer's allowance was extended to a couple's joint income and a £75 disregard applied in respect of a carer's own income. The upper income limit for the purposes of tapering the withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance was increased from £90 to £105. The means limit for fuel allowance was increased from £15 to £30 above weekly social welfare payment.
In 2000, FIS weekly income thresholds increased by £13. There were major improvements in the assessment of capital for all means tested schemes other than supplementary welfare allowance, with the first £10,000 disregarded and the method of assessing the value of capital above this level improved. The weekly rehabilitative earnings disregard for disability allowance and blind person's pension purposes was increased from £50 to £75. There were further improvements in the assessment of means under the farm assist scheme and for fishermen claiming unemployment assistance. A number of improvements were made to arrangements whereby people retain supplementary welfare allowance rent and mortgage supplements on returning to work under schemes such as community employment, back to work allowance and revenue job assist.
Last year also saw improvements in the operation of the arrangements for tapering the withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance, including an increase in the income range over which the tapering arrangements apply from £60 to £105 up to £70 to £135 and an extension of the improved tapering arrangements to recipients of old age contributory, retirement and invalidity pensions. The amount of the gross proceeds from the sale of a pensioner's principal residence which can be exempted for means test purposes was increased from £75,000 to £150,000.
In 2001, FIS weekly income thresholds have been increased by £25. Existing weekly income limits of £75, single, and £150, couple, for carer's allowance purposes are being increased to £125/£250. Provisions limiting the overall amount of disability allowance payable where the spouse is in receipt of another social welfare payment are being abolished. Provisions have been made which enable pensioners on means tested payments to exempt up to £150,000 from the gross proceeds from the sale of their principal residence to be extended to recipients of disability allowance. Those in receipt of one parent family payment are to be allowed to retain 50% of any maintenance received. Exemption of the health board allowance for frail elderly people is to be boarded out for means test purposes.
The means limit for fuel allowance is to be increased from £30 to £40 above weekly social welfare payment. There has been an easing of the clawback of budget increases in pensions for SWA rent and mortgage supplement purposes by £5 per week and an increase in the upper ceiling for tapered qualified adult allowance arrangements from £135 to £145. Disregard meal and travel allowances are now paid while on training courses to recipients of unemployment assistance and one parent family payment in respect of approved and appropriate courses of a short-term duration. ESF and VEC scholarship scheme grants will now be disregarded for the purposes of unemployment assistance and farm assist. Amounts paid by health boards towards the care of foster children will be disregarded for the purposes of assessing income for entitlement to qualified adult allowance.
