Govt to revamp welfare scheme

A €700m welfare-allowance scheme that provides a safety net for people at risk of poverty and social exclusion is to be reformed, it was confirmed today.

Social Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan said a report into the 30-year-old Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme (SWA) recommended a more streamlined delivery of the vital income supports.

More than €700m was spent last year on the scheme which provides 110,000 people with the supplementary welfare allowance payment each week for rent supplement, heat, travel, urgent needs and basic weekly payments.

Mr Brennan said: “The SWA system is a vital support lifeline every week for tens of thousands of people who find themselves in difficult circumstances, as the breakdown in this report of payments so graphically shows.

“However, it is over 30 years since the whole system was reformed and in that time Ireland as a country has changed dramatically. Our population is growing steadily; immigration has replaced emigration and a whole range of new social issues, pressures and needs have emerged.”

The 320-page report found the SWA scheme had gone beyond its original safety net role and plays a more extensive part in the welfare system than envisaged.

Mr Brennan added: “While maintaining its valuable role as a welfare safety net for those who may otherwise face hardship or destitution, it is important that the system for the future is focused on providing the supports and activation measures that will bring people towards a better place in life and offer fresh hopes and new beginnings.

“Just as we are now moving towards more enlightened social policies on lone parents, the reforming the SWA will be another significant step in modernising our welfare supports system to better reflect the needs of modern Ireland.”

The report recommended a more streamlined delivery of income support through the social welfare system supported by active case management for those coming within the system.

It advised social assistance payments should be integrated into a unified system of income support to be delivered at local social welfare offices.

From 2001 to 2005 the number of people in receipt of rent upplement grew from 42,700 to 60,000. It recommended the Rental Accommodation Scheme be enhanced by early referral to local authorities of tenants with apparent long-term housing needs.

The scheme is delivered by some 700 Community Welfare Offices from more than 1,000 locations around the country.