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Social Welfare Benefits.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 November 2004

Wednesday, 10 November 2004

Ceisteanna (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)

Eamon Ryan

Ceist:

77 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if consideration is being given to have payments being made by other Government Departments to be more readily made by his Department. [28174/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Department of Social and Family Affairs pays a wide range of benefits to persons based on an identified income support need. Payments such as unemployment benefit and disability benefit address the needs of persons who might have lost an income through redundancy or through illness. Payments such as supplementary welfare allowance or the other main means tested payments are made where a person's income is insufficient to meet their ongoing living needs and/or the needs of their family.

My Department has in the past successfully incorporated into the social welfare system payments which had been made by health boards where it was clear that the payment addressed a primary income support need. Hence, the payment of supplementary welfare allowance was incorporated into the mainstream social welfare system on 1 July 1977, although significant aspects of its delivery and administration are still conducted by health board staff. In 1996, the Department of Social Welfare took over the disabled persons maintenance allowance, DPMA, from the health boards and renamed it disability allowance.

My Department continues to keep the appropriateness of income support payment arrangements under review. A recent review of illness and disability schemes concluded, with regard to the infectious diseases maintenance allowance currently paid by health boards, that "the current arrangements for dealing with the social assistance needs of those who are short-term ill or disabled should continue to apply". In addition, "the infectious diseases (maintenance) allowance should be merged into the supplementary welfare allowance scheme". Arrangements are being made to progress this recommendation by my Department in association with the health boards.

The review of illness and disability schemes also considered the limitation on the payment of DA to persons in residential institutions before a certain date and recommended its removal. The working group recognised that the removal would have a range of implications that would not be possible to assess at that time. However, in recognition of a lack of specific information about the practical implication of removing the limitations it was also recommended that progress could be made by taking over from the health boards the discretionary pocket money allowance currently paid to some persons affected by the limitation. Budget 2003 provided for the transfer to begin and sufficient information has now been gathered to address this issue.

No decisions have been made regarding the transfer of other payments to my Department at this time. That being said, the effective and efficient delivery of income supports is a primary objective of the Government and the position regarding such payments must be kept under review.

I understand the Deputy is particularly concerned with payments made by health boards, such as domiciliary care allowances, mobility allowance and other payments. Some of these payments are viewed more in the nature of addressing the cost of disability rather than as income support payments. The range of issues which these raise are considerably wider than income support payments and for this reason a social partnership working group was set up specifically to examine these issues. The working group is chaired by the Department of Health and Children and various Departments, including my own, contribute to the work of the group. The work of this group is ongoing.

Billy Timmins

Ceist:

78 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the circumstances under which the rent allowance supplement for private accommodation is withdrawn; if it is withdrawn if a person refuses an offer of accommodation from a local authority due to the fact that they believe the accommodation to be substandard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28188/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Billy Timmins

Ceist:

117 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the circumstances under which the rent supplement allowance is withdrawn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28189/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Paul Kehoe

Ceist:

138 Mr. Kehoe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his and the Government’s definition of a genuine housing need with regard to his comments on the supplementary welfare rent allowance in Dáil Éireann on 6 October 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28124/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

I propose to take Questions Nos. 78, 117 and 138 together.

Rent supplements are provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered by the health boards on behalf of my Department. One of the conditions for receipt of rent supplement is that the tenant must be in need of accommodation and must be unable to provide for it from his or her own resources.

Under previous arrangements, health boards for the most part decided whether an applicant for rent supplement was in need of accommodation without reference to the local authority. Under the arrangements now in place, more systematic referral of applicants gives an increased role for local authorities in this area. Ultimately, it is a matter for the local authorities to determine whether a person has a genuine housing need in accordance with the criteria set out in section 9 of the Housing Act 1988.

If an applicant for rent supplement has not been assessed by a local authority as being in need of housing, they are not necessarily excluded from receiving rent supplement on that account. A number of categories of people are exempted from the requirement to be assessed by the local authority, including elderly people, people with disabilities, those regarded as homeless and people leaving institutions such as prisons. The scheme is also flexible in providing support for existing private sector tenants who have been renting a period of time and who have recently experienced an income maintenance need, for example, because they have become unemployed.

In the past it had been possible for people to refuse State support from the local housing authority in respect of their housing needs in favour of availing indefinitely of rent supplement from the health board in respect of those same housing needs. It is currently a condition of any claimant's entitlement to a rent supplement that he or she has not refused, within any continuous 12 month period commencing on or after 31 January 2004, a second offer of accommodation provided by the local housing authority.

In this regard, offers made by a local housing authority are in respect of accommodation which is of an acceptable standard, suitable to the applicant's needs and in an area chosen by the person themselves. If a rent supplement recipient considers that the accommodation offered by the local authority is not suitable then they must pursue the matter with the local authority. If the offer is withdrawn by the local authority, rent supplement remains in payment.

In addition to people who refuse local authority accommodation without reasonable cause, rent supplement may be withdrawn from a person whose financial circumstances have changed to the degree to which they are deemed to have sufficient means to meet their accommodation costs themselves.

Arthur Morgan

Ceist:

79 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if, in view of the up coming budget, he will return eligibility for back to work enterprise allowance and back to work allowance to 15 and 12 months respectively in view of the hardships incurred in this sector. [28116/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

The back to work allowance scheme is part of my Department's programme of initiatives designed to assist long-term unemployed people, lone parents and other social welfare recipients to return to the active labour force. There are two strands to the scheme, the back to work enterprise allowance for self employment and the back to work allowance for employees.

The allowance was introduced in 1993 at a time when long-term unemployment stood at 8.9%. In its early years the scheme proved effective in helping people who had been long-term unemployed to return to the labour force. However, changes in labour market conditions since the mid-1990s have reduced the need for the scheme. This is illustrated by the drop in numbers availing of it in recent years. At present, there are 12,097 participants in the scheme, compared to 39,343 in October 2000 when the scheme reached its peak.

The scheme was reviewed in 2002 in the light of economic and labour market changes and, in particular, the drop in unemployment levels since its introduction. This review also took account of an evaluation of the scheme by independent consultants. They recommended that the scheme should be restructured in the light of the changes in the labour market. In particular, the review recommended that the scheme be refocused on the longer-term unemployed, that the non-financial supports be enhanced and that the overall numbers on the scheme be reduced. In January 2003, therefore, the qualifying period for persons on unemployment benefit-assistance was increased to five years. Recipients of other social welfare qualifying payments were not affected by the change.

The scheme is continually monitored to ensure its relevance to current labour market and economic conditions. It was recognised that there was some difficulty being experienced by persons wishing to enter self employment after five years attachment to the live register. Therefore in budget 2004 the qualifying period for access to the self employed strand of the scheme was reduced to three years. From March 2004, persons in receipt of unemployment benefit/assistance accessing the self-employed strand of the scheme only require three years on their unemployment payment to qualify for participation in the scheme.

There is no evidence that focusing the scheme on the long-term unemployed has caused hardship. However, I will continue to monitor the scheme to ensure that it continues to assist those furthest from the labour market to gain a foothold into sustainable employment or self employment.

Question No. 80 answered with QuestionNo. 71.
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