Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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4. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason that persons on benefit payments are still not eligible for the fuel allowance. [51021/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, which is currently supporting more than 370,000 households at an estimated cost of €366 million.

As part of the overall welfare Budget 2023 package of €2.2 Billion, a number of significant reforms were made to the Fuel Allowance scheme. Up to 81,000 new households will benefit from a major expansion of Fuel Allowance Scheme from January 2023. These reforms include:

- A new means threshold will be introduced for people aged 70 years and over. The new means threshold will be €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple.

- The weekly means threshold for those aged under 70 will be increased by €80 to €200 above the appropriate rate of State Pension (Contributory).

- The Disablement Benefit payment will be disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes. A household will also no longer be debarred from receiving Fuel Allowance because a person in the household is in receipt of Disablement Benefit.

- The Half-Rate Carer's Allowance payment will be disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes.

It is incorrect to say that the Fuel Allowance is not available to Benefit recipients. In fact, it is available to recipients of long-term benefit payments including pensioners and people with disabilities and the changes I have just listed will increase the number of households on these schemes that will benefit from the payment.

Some short-term benefit payments such as Jobseeker's Benefit, Illness benefit and Maternity Benefit are not, however, qualifying payments for Fuel Allowance. The reason for this is that Fuel Allowance is intended as a support for households with a long-term dependence on welfare payments. The schemes just mentioned are short-term payments for those who suffer a short period of interruption to their employment. These payments are not means-tested; the recipients still have an attachment to the labour force and there is an expectation that they will return to the workforce.

It is also important to note that households in receipt of benefit payments, including those not eligible for Fuel Allowance, will benefit from the enhanced electricity credit of €600 which will be applied to electricity bills, €200 before Christmas and the remainder (in two tranches) early in the New Year. These households will also benefit from the double week in social welfare payments in October and December.

Finally, the Department of Social Protection provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme for people who have an urgent need, which they cannot meet from their own resources. These payments are available through our Community Welfare Service.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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13. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of working family payment applications currently awaiting a decision per county in tabular form; the steps that her Department is taking to clear this backlog; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50271/22]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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49. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will detail the specifics of the extension of the working family payment; if there is an estimate of the number of additional families that will now be eligible; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49480/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 49 together.

The Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly tax-free payment for employees with children which supports people in low paid employment. The WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependents, and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment.

It is a targeted measure that is directly linked to household income and therefore directly supports low-income working families. There are approximately 45,000 families with 99,000 children who are currently in receipt of WFP. The estimated spend of WFP in 2022 is €349 million.

Budget 2023 included the provision of a once off €500 cost of living lump sum payment to all WFP recipients and is due to be paid in the week commencing 14th November.

An increase in the income thresholds applicable to WFP customers was also announced in Budget 2023. This increase will take effect from 5th January 2023 and will see the income limit for all family sizes increase by €40. This will see an increase in payment across all awarded claims of €24 per week while also increasing the income qualification thresholds for claimants.

The number of applications for the Working Family Payment reduced during the pandemic but since January 2022 applications have returned to pre pandemic levels.

There is no fixed payment rate for the Working Family Payment with the payment to each applicant being dependent on their employment earnings and their household composition. Each applicant receives a payment unique to their own circumstances. Therefore, each application needs to be reviewed carefully to calculate this payment and evidence of earnings must be submitted and verified.

There are currently 5,531 new applications pending. The average processing time for new Working Family Payment applications is currently 4 weeks and over 97% are cleared within 6 weeks. This represents an improvement of 2 weeks in average processing time compared to the pre-covid, 2019 performance. Renewal applications are processed prior to the expiry of the current claim.

The easiest and fastest ways for customers to make an application for Working Family Payment is online via mywelfare.ie.