Results 41-60 of 4,934 for more speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...social welfare system. From January 2024 the income disregard for a single person was increased to €450 and €900 for a couple. Carers can also engage in employment, self-employment, training or education courses outside the home for not more than 18.5 hours a week. Finally, the Department of Social Protection provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: .../partner.Since June 2022, this amounts to cumulative increases to the income disregards of €117.50 for a single carer and €235.00 for a carer who is part of couple. These are the highest disregards in the Social Welfare system. These recent changes to the means test have enabled more carers on a reduced rate to move to a higher payment. Additionally, many carers who...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...E 303) when they register. The same payment amount will then be paid directly into their bank account by EFT in the country where they became unemployed. A person can transfer their JB payment more than once while they are unemployed provided they do not exceed the maximum period of 13 weeks.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...formerly E 303) when they register. The same payment amount will then be paid directly into their bank account by EFT in the country where they became unemployed. They may transfer their JB payment more than once while they are unemployed provided they do not exceed the maximum period of 13 weeks.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...applied to join the Hot School Meals scheme, asking them to submit expressions of interest in commencing the provision of Hot School Meals. The responses will be reviewed with the aim of including more schools subject to available funding in Budget 2025. The school referred to has not expressed an interest in joining the scheme to date. Officials from my Department will be happy to engage...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...not yet joined the Hot School Meals scheme asking them to submit expressions of interest in commencing the provision of Hot School Meals. The responses will be reviewed with the aim of including more schools subject to available funding in Budget 2025. Details of the number of schools in Dublin invited to the Programme in the most recent extension to 168 new schools, a list of schools...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Correspondence (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: .... My Department has no role or function regarding the regulation of financial service providers, including brokers and intermediaries, which are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and are more appropriately addressed to my colleague, the Minister for Finance. Where somebody feels they have been treated unfairly by a particular pensions provider, they have the option of making a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...referred to has expressed an interest in joining the scheme. My Department is currently collating the responses received under this year's Expression of Interest process with the aim of including more schools subject to available funding in Budget 2025.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own. Fuel...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...not yet joined the Hot School Meals scheme asking them to submit expressions of interest in commencing the provision of Hot School Meals. The responses will be reviewed with the aim of including more schools subject to available funding in Budget 2025.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reviews (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...whose homes are damaged and who are not able to meet costs for essential needs, household items and, in some instances, structural repair. The income test for Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is more generous than that which applies in the case of social welfare schemes generally. The basic principle of the income test is that individuals and families with average levels of income will...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...;12 weekly rate increase in primary payments. Independent, post-Budget analysis from the ESRI also showed that the Budget package that the combination of basic rate increases with some lump sum payments was more effective than a simple price indexed increase. The Budget protected the most vulnerable in our society, particularly low-income families. The CSO's 2023 Survey on Income and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...as the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, who have a measure they call the “Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL)”. The data shows that the cost of living for a single person is slightly more than the individualized cost of two people living together. For this reason, the Living Alone Increase is available to those in receipt of qualifying payments. The Living...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...number of carers is this high, it follows that the cost of abolition of the means test will also be much higher. With the caveat that we cannot be certain how many people would meet the qualifying conditions for the scheme e.g., provision of full-time care of 35 hours or more per week, unknown overlap between the Census and the current recipients of carer income support payments, etc, a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...sum instalments - one in September and one in January. Only one Fuel Allowance is payable per household. Those who qualify for the payment do not need to reapply annually. In Budget 2023, I introduced a more generous means test for those aged over 70, with a higher means threshold of €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple. From 5th January 2024, the means thresholds...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...;1,000 for a couple. These changes resulted in an additional 35,000 households joining the scheme so far.I also significantly increased the income and capital disregards for Carer's Allowance. This enables more carers with modest incomes to become eligible for the scheme and allows carers and their families to earn more from employment while retaining their carer’s payment.As part...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...in recognition of their long-term financial dependence on their social welfare payment for all or most of their income. People on long term payments are unlikely to have additional resources of their own and are more vulnerable to poverty, including energy poverty. It is for this reason that my Department allocates additional payments, supports and resources such as Fuel Allowance to this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...Service and inviting them to meet with a Designated Disability Employment Personal Advisors. Early engagement is now focused on contacting those people who are in receipt of DA for six months or more. To date in the region of 30,000 people were contacted by Intreo under early engagement. Engagement with the service is voluntary but where a person wishes to participate they will receive an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...that persons attending hospital appointments should make their own arrangements for journeys by using Public Transport or Local Link transport in rural areas. Where a person who is required to attend the medical appointment has more serious medical issues that prevents them from using public transport, it would be expected that a suitable method of transport would be arranged by their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...for over 20 years. Since January 2024, long-term carers contributions (LTCCs) can be awarded to a person who has cared for an incapacitated person for a period of 20 years (1040 weeks) or more and these contributions can be used towards the calculation of their State Pension (Contributory) entitlement. This is done by attributing the equivalent of a paid contribution to long-term carers of...