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Social Welfare Benefits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 April 2012

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Ceisteanna (31)

Gerry Adams

Ceist:

27 Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Social Protection her views on whether it is fair that her Department would use a 16 year old’s disability allowance as grounds to reduce their mother’s rent allowance in view of the fact the family lived in local authority accommodation and that any income of her child would be disregarded prior to the age of 18; the consequence of which is that the family are worse off financially than when they received DCA up until they were 16 despite the rising costs of disability as a teenager gets older. [20598/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The purpose of Rent Supplement is to provide short term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source. There are currently approximately 95,000 persons in receipt of rent supplement, with €436m provided for in 2012. Rent Supplement is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) appropriate to their family circumstances less a minimum contribution which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. The weekly minimum contribution is €30 for a single adult household and €35 for coupled households. Many recipients pay more than this amount because recipients are also required, subject to income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate basic SWA rate towards their accommodation costs.

Legislation provides that where a person, other than a qualified adult or a qualified child of the claimant, resides with the claimant, the designated officer deciding the claim shall reduce the amount of the supplement payable, by such amount, which in the opinion of that officer, is reasonably attributable to that other person.

The Department has previously advised staff administering the scheme that where a household consists of a non-dependent household member who is only in receipt of a Social Welfare payment, then the contribution payable toward the rent by that person should be €30 per week.

Question No. 28 answered with Question No. 7.
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