Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022
7. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason that persons in receipt of jobseeker's benefit, illness benefit, enhanced illness benefit, occupational injuries benefit, maternity benefit or disablement benefit are automatically excluded from the fuel allowance regardless of their income; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14660/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis question relates to the reason people who receive jobseeker's benefit, illness benefit, enhanced illness benefit, occupational injuries benefit, maternity benefit or disablement benefit are automatically excluded from the fuel allowance, regardless of their income.
Fuel allowance is paid to social welfare recipients such as pensioners, people with disabilities, lone parents and the long-term unemployed in recognition of their long-term financial dependence on their social welfare payment for all or most of their income. The reason jobseeker's benefit, illness benefit, enhanced illness benefit and maternity benefit are not qualifying payments for fuel allowance is that in the vast majority of cases they are short-term payments for those who suffer a short period of interruption to their employment. The payments are not means-tested and are based on a person’s PRSI record. The recipients still have an attachment to the labour force and there is an expectation that they will return to the workforce.
Death benefit and incapacity supplement, which are both paid under the occupational injury benefit scheme, are qualifying payments for fuel allowance. Disablement benefit is not a qualifying payment except in the case where a person is also in receipt of incapacity supplement. People in receipt of disablement benefit without another payment can work full time or part time and continue to receive the benefit payment. Disablement benefit can be paid at the same time as most other social welfare payments.
Following representations from other Deputies, I have committed to carrying out a review of the treatment of disablement benefit under the fuel allowance scheme where the person is on a qualifying payment for fuel allowance and is in receipt of disablement benefit at a rate less than the allowable means. Officials in my Department are working on this review. Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for fuel allowance could only be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.
I thank the Minister for the explanation that the fuel allowance is targeted at people who are long-term financially dependent on the State and means-tested for the benefits they receive.
This issue was brought to my attention by a number of my constituents in recent months. It seems unfair that a person who is in need of fuel allowance does not qualify because he or she receives one of the social protection payments I have listed. This is especially true in the cases of those who receive illness benefit, enhanced illness benefit, occupational injuries benefit or the disablement benefit.
It is great that the Minister has committed to doing a review of the disablement benefit scheme and how it can interact with the fuel allowance. That review will throw up some interesting facts, and hopefully it will help to expand the scheme to include these groups. These payments are mostly spent by the recipients on treatment, medication and perhaps special equipment. When these costs are accounted for there is often little left to help people with heating their homes, regardless of having a low income.
I welcome the Minister's review of the scheme. Will she consider expanding the fuel allowance criteria in the context of the budgetary negotiations ahead of budget 2023?
I understand the issue with regard to people on the disability payment. I, too, have a constituent who has been out sick with a bad back for the past two to three months.
She asked me if she could get the fuel allowance and I had to explain to her that she could not because she was outside the criteria. The payment is framed in this way in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the fuel allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria. We are trying to ensure the fuel allowance payment goes to those who are most vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods, who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own. Any decision to extend the eligibility criteria for fuel allowance to those on short-term payments would result in significant extra funding requirements for the scheme and would have to be considered in the budget. However, the matter is being reviewed now and I would like to see what that review says.
I welcome that review. A constituent contacted me who is in receipt of disability allowance and the occupational injuries benefit because of an accident they had in the 1990s. Their spouse is also in receipt of the invalidity payment. Even though they as a couple are below the assessable income threshold, they cannot receive the fuel allowance because of those two benefits. The reviews being undertaken will help some people in this situation. I welcome the work the Minister is doing on this and the fact she is keeping this under review.
The review is being carried out and I look forward to seeing what it has to say. There are always cases where you would love people to be getting something but unfortunately, when there are criteria some people will fall outside them and some will qualify. In budget 2022, the Government committed to very significant increases in a targeted package of social protection supports. The qualified child payment was increased by €2 per week for children under 12 and €3 per week for children over 12. The living alone allowance was increased by €3. The working family payment threshold increased and the fuel allowance was increased. There were a lot of changes and it was a €1 billion package. I take the Deputy's point. I have seen this happen myself.
