99. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Social Protection if persons on invalidity pensions are eligible for fuel allowance; to outline the criteria for fuel allowance; and if any changes will be included in the upcoming budget. [67324/26]

Fuel Allowance eligibility encompasses 22 qualifying schemes, demonstrating the comprehensive nature of the support available to eligible households.  In addition to these qualifying schemes, people over 66 do not need to be in receipt of a payment from this Department to qualify for Fuel Allowance, subject to satisfying a means test.  According to the latest CSO data, there are just over 1.8 million households in Ireland.  Of these, 463,910 households are eligible for the Fuel Allowance scheme, representing approximately 26% of all households nationwide.

Invalidity Pension is a qualifying scheme for Fuel Allowance and a person in receipt of the payment may qualify for Fuel Allowance subject to satisfying the relevant qualifying criteria.

The main qualifying criteria include a means test and the household composition criterion.  The qualifying 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 is targeted at 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.

For those aged under 66, including those on Invalidity Pension an applicant and members of the household may have a combined assessable income of up to €200.00 a week above the appropriate maximum State Pension Contributory rate, this equates to €499.30 for a single person and €698.70 for a couple.  For Fuel Allowance applicants aged 66 or over the allowable means are €534 for a single person and €1,068 for a couple.

To satisfy the household composition criterion an applicant must live alone or only with: -

• a qualified spouse / civil partner / cohabitant or qualified child(ren); or

• a person in receipt of a qualifying payment who would be entitled to the Fuel Allowance in their own right; or

•  a person who is in receipt of Carer’s Benefit in respect of providing full?time care and attention to the Fuel Allowance applicant or the applicant’s qualified spouse / civil partner / cohabitant or qualified child(ren): or

• a person receiving short term Jobseeker's Allowance or Basic SWA (if not pending award of a social welfare payment). or

• a person aged 66 or over, subject to a means test, (this person does not need to be in receipt of a qualifying payment); or

• a person a renting a room under the prescribed conditions that allow the Fuel Allowance applicant to benefit from the rent-a-room disregard or for whom the Fuel Allowance applicant is receiving payments for under the Accommodation Recognition Scheme. or

• The immediate family of a person in receipt of the Working Family Payment.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to examine key ancillary benefits such as the Fuel Allowance, Household Benefits Package and Living Alone Increase to support vulnerable groups.  This is an ongoing activity as part of the Department's budget planning each year and I will continue, as part of the budget planning process, to consider if improvements can be made to ensure that these benefits continue to target vulnerable groups.

However, any further changes to the criteria for accessing the Fuel Allowance scheme would require additional funding for the scheme and therefore any decision to increase the Fuel Allowance thresholds would have to form part of overall budgetary negotiations.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.