2026-06-18

7. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will give consideration to changing the living alone allowance in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46357/26]

I acknowledge my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, and I apologise for my enthusiasm in my first round of questions. I think I submitted too many. I ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will give consideration to changing the living alone allowance. I note his previous reply to Deputy Hayes as well.

I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, on her appointment and wish her every success in her new role. It is acknowledged, as we have done this morning, that those who live alone and are dependent on certain payments from my Department face a higher cost of living than a two-person household. It is for this reason that the living alone increase is available to those in receipt of qualifying payments from my Department. The living alone allowance is a supplementary payment to those who are 66 or over, living alone and in receipt of a State contributory pension, State non-contributory pension, bereaved partner’s contributory pension, bereaved partner's pension under the occupational injuries benefit scheme, incapacity supplement under the occupational injuries benefit scheme or deserted wife's benefit. It is also paid to people aged under 66 who live alone and are in receipt of a disability allowance, invalidity pension, incapacity supplement or blind pension. It is not a stand-alone payment and for this reason it is only available to those in receipt of one of those specified payments. In total about 260,000 people receive the payment weekly. The current rate of the living alone allowance is €22 a week. It has increased by over 144% since 2019, when it was just €9 per week. The most recent change to the rate was in budget 2022 when it increased by €3, from €19 per week to its current rate of €22 per week. Any future changes to the qualifying criteria or rate of pay for the living alone allowance will have to be considered in the overall budgetary context, including possible increases to primary rates and other supports available. I look forward to input from colleagues, particularly around the qualifying criteria for the living alone allowance as well as the rate of pay. Many anomalies have been highlighted around the qualifying criteria. Deputy McAuliffe referred to one of these earlier and those are the areas I want to see if we can iron out over the course of our budgetary considerations.

The anomalies here are an issue. I know sometimes there might be three individuals sharing a home who are not in any way related to one another, and that can provide some complications. We have been able to resolve this issue in some cases. When we are dealing with anomalies, there is that issue of people sharing a home as to who gets the fuel allowance. If one person gets it, then other people in the home do not. That is something I ask the Minister to examine. The other thing I would say regarding the living alone allowance is that when the State spends money it inevitably has an impact on inflation. Regarding increasing the living alone allowance, this relates to costs which people already have and are already paying. People have to pay their household bills and so on. It is an area that does not have as much of an inflationary impact as perhaps increases in social welfare payments would. I am not advocating for increases in the payments but I am saying it is something to be conscious of that the living alone allowance itself does not have as much of an inflationary leakage or impact. It is something to consider.

I was wondering there, Deputy. I want to focus this year on targeted interventions to address those particular cohorts of people who are most at risk of falling into poverty. I want a situation where we can iron out rules within the systems that may be doing that inadvertently and may be driving people in that direction. As I said earlier, there is the situation of somebody who loses their spouse or partner and is immediately faced with the same bills but with half the income. We need to work better in terms of making the living alone allowance available quicker and providing information on it. There is also the fuel allowance. I am also conscious we have not increased the living alone allowance since budget 2022, so we have some way to catch up there. The Deputy and Deputy Séamus McGrath in particular have been consistent in their work on this and I look forward to all colleagues providing input on this because it is something we all get in our constituency clinics on this particular payment.