Seán Crowe
Question:346 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people availing of the rented accommodation allowance per health board area. [28976/03]
Vol. 576 No. 1
346 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people availing of the rented accommodation allowance per health board area. [28976/03]
347 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of single people per health board area availing of the rented accommodation allowance. [28977/03]
348 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of family units which avail of the allowance for rented accommodation per health board area. [28978/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 346 to 348, inclusive, together.
The number of recipients of rent supplements by health board area and family composition is shown in the following tabular statement:
Health Board |
Single |
Couples |
Families |
Total |
ERHA |
10,138 |
1,748 |
13,348 |
25,234 |
SHB |
4,372 |
664 |
3,857 |
8,893 |
WHB |
3,303 |
392 |
2,773 |
6,468 |
SEHB |
2,763 |
418 |
2,914 |
6,096 |
MWHB |
2,107 |
188 |
2,026 |
4,320 |
NEHB |
1,149 |
199 |
2,014 |
3,362 |
NWHB |
1,402 |
152 |
1,173 |
2,727 |
MHB |
934 |
153 |
1,233 |
2,320 |
Total |
26,168 |
3,914 |
29,338 |
59,420 |
350 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the impact of the change announced in her Estimates that the earnings threshold for unemployment benefit and disability benefit will be increased from ?88.88 to ?150. [28981/03]
The purpose of the increase in the earnings threshold for unemployment and disability purposes, which was announced as part of the recent Estimates decisions, is to remove a disincentive to employment that has developed in the operation of both of these payments for workers on low earnings.
Following the extension of full social insurance cover to part-time workers earning in excess of €31.17 a week from April 1991, a range of measures was introduced in the case of the short-term disability and unemployment benefit schemes in order to ensure that disincentives to employment were not created. In the absence of these measures, a situation would have existed whereby many workers on low incomes would have had access to weekly social welfare payments which would have greatly exceeded their income from employment. For instance, while someone earning €31.17 a week or more would have been liable for PRSI class A contributions, the maximum personal rates of unemployment and disability benefit available to them from January 1993 was €70.60 a week, that is, the social welfare benefits available would have been more than twice the level of income from employment for some people.