Recipients of social welfare or health board payments who have been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition and whose means are insufficient to meet their food needs may qualify for a diet supplement under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards.
Diet supplements are subject to a means test. The amount of supplement payable depends on which of two categories of diet has been prescribed by the applicant's medical advisor and the income of the individual and his or her dependants.
The basis for calculating the amount of diet supplement had remained unchanged since 1996. Subsequent increases in social welfare rates and in the cost of special diets had not been taken into account in assessing entitlement in individual cases.
With effect from 1 January 2004, the diet supplement scheme was restructured to take account of increases in social welfare payment rates and the rate of food inflation since 1996. In the case of new applicants for diet supplement, the amount of supplement payable is based on revised diet costs, €44 for lower cost diets, or €57 for higher cost diets, less one third of the applicant's income or one sixth of the joint income in the case of a couple. People who were in receipt of a diet supplement prior to the introduction of the revised regulations on 1 January 2004 continue to receive their existing rate of supplement until such time as there is a change in their circumstances that would warrant a review of their case.
In order to inform future consideration of the scheme, my Department has commissioned a short study by the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute to establish what constitutes a standard healthy nutritional diet and how the cost of such a diet relates to the current rate of social welfare payments. The study will also examine the special diets currently prescribed in legislation which attract assistance in the form of a diet supplement and examine the appropriate level of assistance required to allow individuals cater for any additional costs involved in providing for special diets. The study is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
As previously stated, I have instructed my Department to conduct a review of a number of adjustments to particular welfare schemes, including alterations to the dietary supplements, that were introduced last year. That review is currently under way and I expect that it will be concluded soon.