Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:503. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of moving all social welfare claimants, including pensioners, to a living wage. [28185/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 6 October 2020
Ceisteanna (503)
Freagraí scríofa
As the Deputy has clarified, this question relates to increasing the rates of all social welfare payments to meet the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL).
The MESL is an assessment, developed by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, of the minimum income needed to live and partake in the social and economic norms of everyday life for various household types.
The most recent report indicates that the welfare system already provides adequate supports for some household types (for example, families with young children in urban locations) but that there is an adequacy gap with respect to other households types, for example families with older children.
It should be noted that the MESL for welfare households assumes that households are eligible for a medical card and, as such, health and insurance costs are reduced accordingly. While the model assumes that pensioners have the Free Travel pass and the Household Benefits package, it does not assume this for working age people. Certain working age recipients of welfare payments qualify for Free Travel – recipients of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, and Carer’s Allowance, for example.
Bringing weekly working age social welfare rates in line with the MESL would entail increasing the maximum personal rate to €250 and the Qualified Child Increase to €48.20 for children under 12 and €94.70 for children aged 12 and over. There would be no proportionate increase in the current rate for Qualified Adults in order to meet the MESL.
Bringing pension rates in line with the MESL would require an increase of €51.40 for pensioners living alone in rural areas. There would be no increase to the rate of payment for pensioner couples, or pensioners living alone in urban areas. While it is not possible at this time to provide an estimate for those living in rural areas only, the estimated cost of an increase for all pensioners in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance is included in the figure below.
The estimated cost of bringing working age and pension welfare payments to meet the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL), as outlined above, is €2.9 billion. This costing is subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.
Questions Nos. 504 and 505 answered with Question No. 492.