Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. An urgent needs payment (UNP) may be made to persons who may not normally qualify for supplementary welfare allowance but who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources or where an alternative is not available at that time.
The following tabular statement shows the number of payments made under the ENP and UNP scheme each year since 2016. Statistics are maintained relating to payments made. However, they are not maintained on the number of applications.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Year
|
Number of Payments
|
2016
|
100,100
|
2017
|
103,500
|
2018
|
112,500
|
2019
|
92,200
|
2020 (End of May)
|
30,000
|