Working for Work : Chapter 1 : Social Welfare Payments

Social Assistance Payments

Generally speaking, people who have become ill, disabled, who act as a carer, are elderly, unemployed or are lone parents and do not have the necessary PRSI contributions can qualify for specific Social Assistance payments from the Department of Social Protection.

To qualify you must:

• prove you are eligible for a particular payment, e.g. a One-Parent Family Payment applicant must prove they are parenting alone
• pass a means test (subject to various disregards)
• satisfy the habitual residence condition
• satisfy the medical criteria, e.g. for Disability Allowance

The following are Social Assistance payments:

• Jobseeker's Allowance (JA)
• Pre-Retirement Allowance (PRA)
• One Parent Family Payment (OPFP)
• Disability Allowance (DA)
• Carer's Allowance (CA)
• Family Income Supplement (FIS)
• Fuel Allowance
• State Pension (Non-Contributory)
• Widows/Widowers Non-Contributory Pension
• Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Blind Persons Pension
• Farm Assist

The Means Test

All social assistance payments are means-tested but the means test can differ depending on the type of payment you are applying for. The Department's rules on means testing are set out in its guidelines*, which are available at www.welfare.ie. If you are not happy with your means decision and feel you are being treated unreasonably, you have the right to appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (See Appeals later in this chapter)

 

 

The following income is taken into account for the means test:

• Cash income belonging to you or your spouse/civil partner/cohabitant
• Any property you have (other than your own home)
• Income from the Rent A Room Scheme (certain disregards apply)
• The value of any savings, investments, pension shares or land
• Any maintenance paid to you by an ex-spouse or partner
• Parental income if you are under 25 and living in your parents' home

a. Cash income

This includes income from you or your spouse/civil partner/cohabitant's employment, private pension, short-term letting on land owned.

Income not assessed for the means test

• payments from the Department of Social Protection
• income earned from the HSE as a home help
• the maintenance portion of a Local Authority Higher Education Grant
• Child Benefit from another EU member State
• Supplementary Welfare Allowance from the Health Service Executive
• Rent or Mortgage Interest Supplement
• income earned under certain schemes in Gaeltacht areas
• income from certain non-profit making charitable organisations
• income from the HIV Haemophilia Fund and the Hepatitis C Fund
• any amount received as a training allowance while undergoing a course of rehabilitation training by an organisation approved by the Minister for Health. -
• income from a Disability Pension or a Wound Pension under the Army Pension Acts 1923-1980 or a combination of allowances in so far as they do not exceed €104 per year (includes British War Pension from UK).
• compensation awards by the residential institutions redress board
• income from insurable seasonal employment if the seasonal employment has finished

Please contact the INOU on (01) 856 0088 for further information or details on any additional exceptions.

Income disregards

There are certain disregards allowed on income for example, If you make a claim for Jobseeker's Allowance and your spouse is working then their PRSI, pension payments and union subscriptions would be deducted from their gross earnings before the means test is done. There are a range of different income disregards for different types of payments. These are explained in Chapter 4.

Pensions:

The value of a pension fund is only assessable for means when a person has access to the pension fund. Any benefits in the form of a regular payment will be treated as income for means purposes. The value of any cash otherwise available from a pension fund will be assessed on the basis of the capital valuation of that fund. Where a Personal Retirement Bond or Buy-Out-Bond is held, a bond which offers a lump-sum payment at a specific point in time, the terms of this bond will determine what and when benefits are payable to the holder of the bond.

A person should provide details of the bond to the Department in order to prove that they do not have access to any of the benefits of the bond - i.e. cash income.

b. Property

The Department will assess the capital value of any property you or your spouse/civil partner/cohabitant own, including any second home, holiday home, unoccupied apartment, residential or commercial buildings in Ireland or abroad. The value of your own home will not be assessed.

Income from the Rent A Room scheme will be assessed, but certain disregards will apply. Contact the INOU on (01) 856 0088 for more information.

c. Investments, savings, shares or land

The capital value of any money you or your spouse/civil partner/cohabitant have in the bank or credit union, stocks, bonds or shares will also be assessed.

The method of assessing capital for entitlement to social assistance payments (except for Supplementary Welfare Allowance) is as follows:

 

Capital Weekly Means Assessed First €20,000 Disregarded Next €10,000 €1.00 per €1,000 Next €10,000 €2.00 per €1,000 Balance €4.00 per €1,000

 

NOTE: The disregard for Disability Allowance is €50,000

 

Example For someone claiming Jobseeker's Allowance the value of property, savings or capital is assessed in the following way: - Money in the credit union €25,000 - Assessable savings (€25,000 - €20,000) €5,000 - Total weekly means (€1.00 per €1,000 x 5) €5.00 per week - Deduction from payment €5.00 per week In this case, only €5,000 of the €25,000 in the credit union is assessable as means. The value of this €5,000 is €5.00 per week.

 

If you are of pension age of 66 or over and receiving any of the following payments:

• State Pension (Non-Contributory)
• Widow/er's Non-Contributory Pension
• Prisoner's Wife's Allowance (PWA)
• One Parent Family Payment (OPFP)

Up to €190,500 made on the sale of your main home will not be counted against your means-tested payment provided the sale is agreed after you reach 66 years of age.

If the Department know, or suspect, that you deliberately got rid of any money (without just cause, good reason or without acceptable documentary evidence) or property in order to qualify for a payment, you will be assessed with the value of the means. The Department's officials will ask you to provide documentation such as bank statements etc. for the means test. If you don't provide this documentation the Deciding Officer will not be able to make a decision on your claim.

d. Maintenance

If you are separated from your spouse/civil partner/cohabitant and receive maintenance from them, this will be assessed. However, for Jobseeker's Allowance, One Parent Family Payment and several other schemes, vouched housing costs up to a maximum of ?95.23 can be deducted from the maintenance payment and half the balance will be assessed as means.

e. Benefit and Privilege

In the means test for Jobseeker's Allowance and Supplementary Welfare Allowance payments, if you are under 24 years of age and under and living at home then your parents' income will be taken into account for the means test. This assessment is known as Benefit and Privilege and is assessed because there is a certain benefit from living in the family home.

Benefit and Privilege does not apply:

• To persons 25 years of age or over on JA living in their parents home -
• Where a son/daughter is claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and is living in their parents' home with a spouse or partner -
• If you return to the parental home having had an independent life-style elsewhere in Ireland or abroad for at least 3 years.

Assessing Benefit and Privilege:

The gross income of the parent/s you live with is taken minus certain disregards and then 34% of the balance is assessed

Income included for this assessment:

Income from insurable employment, self-employment, from all pensions, Rental income from property or land, Maintenance payments, Social Welfare Payments (few exceptions), Health Executive payments (few exceptions), FÁS Training Allowance and from Community Employment Schemes

The Department will allow the following deductions:

• Income tax (Including the Universal Social Charge)
• PRSI
• Health Insurance Contributions
• Superannuation / PRSA
• Union subscriptions
• Rent/Mortgage.

Additional Disregards

There is a further €600 disregard for a two parent family and €470 for a one-parent family. There is a €30 disregard for each child up to 18 years of age and for children over 18 years of age in full time education.

Deductions not allowed:

No deductions are allowed for travelling expenses, life assurance premiums, club subscriptions or saving schemes. In cases where parents have property other than the family home and that property is yielding an income, the net income of that property is asessed e.g. rental income less expenses such as mortgage repayments, insurance costs, repairs etc.

 

Example: John is 23 and claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, which would normally be €188.00. He lives with his parents and two school going siblings. His mother does not work and his father has net (after tax, etc.) earnings of €900 a week. Benefit and Privilege is calculated as follows: Income: €900.00 less Deductions: -- Personal allowances for a two parent family: €600.00 -- Sibling disregard: €60.00 -- Rent/mortgage payment: €120.00 Total Allowances per week €780 Means assessable (€900 minus €780) = €120.00 Means assessed (€120 x 34%) = €40.80 Jobseeker's Allowance: (€188.00 - €40.80) €147.20 Please note: If John was under 20 his Jobseeker's Allowance would only be €100 per week. Under this example the Benefit and Privilege rule would reduce his payment to €59.20. This also applies to new claimants aged 20-21. For those new claimants aged 22-24, the Jobseeker's Allowance is €144.00. Accordingly, after Benefit and Privilege is applied, their payment is €103.20

 

Benefit and Privilege does not apply to people claiming One-Parent Family Payment who are living in their parents' home.

If a person's only source of income is from their parents and means from parental income is so high that their payment would be less than €40, then they will receive a minimum payment of €40 per week.

 

Last Updated: 08/09/2011 ^ back to top