380. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the rationale for requiring a person undergoing a review of their disability allowance to provide details regarding other persons residing in their household, including the sources of income of those persons; the circumstances in which the income or financial circumstances of another household member, other than a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, are relevant to the claimant's entitlement; and the legislative or administrative basis for requesting this information. [66422/26]

Disability Allowance (DA) is a means-tested payment for people with a specified disability whose income falls below certain limits and who are aged between 16 and are under 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to medical assessment, means test and habitual residency conditions.

When eligibility has been established for DA and claims are in payment, my Department undertakes periodic reviews of DA customers to ensure that there is continued entitlement to the scheme. In general, the income and financial circumstances of other household members who are not a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant are not assessed as means against a claimant’s Disability Allowance entitlement. Under the legislation governing means-tested schemes, the income of a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant may be taken into account when determining entitlement and rate of payment.

However, information relating to other persons living in the household may be relevant in certain circumstances. For example, it may assist the Department in establishing the claimant’s actual household composition, verifying declarations made by the claimant, identifying whether any income, capital or property belongs to the claimant, and ensuring that the correct legislative provisions are applied in assessing entitlement.

The legislative basis for seeking information during a Disability Allowance review arises from the means-testing provisions of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, including sections 244 to 250 and the Third Schedule, together with the entitlement provisions in sections 210 and 211. These provisions enable the Department to obtain such information as is reasonably required to establish entitlement, verify household composition and correctly assess means, including determining whether a person should be regarded as a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant for the purposes of the scheme.

These provisions empower the Department to obtain such information as is necessary to determine continuing entitlement to payment, to review claims and to ensure that public funds are administered in accordance with the legislation.

Another instance where this information may be requested is where a DA customer may also qualify for Fuel Allowance (FA), a means-tested payment intended to assist households with heating costs during the winter period.

Eligibility for FA is subject to separate qualifying conditions, including household composition requirements, and further information may be sought where necessary to establish continued entitlement.

Consequently, where a DA recipient is also in receipt of Fuel Allowance and their claim is selected for review, my Department may request the completion of a household composition form to verify that the Fuel Allowance eligibility conditions continue to be met.

The Fuel Allowance scheme is an administrative, non-statutory scheme and is not governed by legislation. The scheme was introduced and extended by Ministerial Announcement. Non-statutory schemes are governed by guidelines which set out the conditions of entitlement in detail. These guidelines are published on the Gov.ie website. As schemes are changed, the published guidelines are amended accordingly. Decisions in relation to applications for non-statutory schemes are made by Officers of the Department based on these published guidelines.

If the Deputy would like my officials to examine any case in particular, I encourage him to forward the details for consideration.