Social welfare payment end date changes have been announced this week as major new bonus rules are introduced.
The 2024/2025 Fuel Allowance season kicked off on Monday, 23 September 2024 and is set to run for 28 weeks, wrapping up on 4 April 2025.
Beneficiaries can expect €33 per week for the duration of the scheme, totalling a tidy sum of €924. Alternatively, the allowance can be paid out in two lump sums, with the second instalment due in the first week of January.
Come January 2025, new regulations are poised to broaden the eligibility criteria for the scheme.
The Fuel Allowance means test disregard for people aged 66 and over will be €524 for a single person and €1,048 for a couple. The Carer’s Allowance will become a qualifying payment for the scheme too.
Below is the current eligibility criteria for Fuel Allowance:
How to qualify for Fuel Allowance?
To get Fuel Allowance you must:
- Live alone (or only with certain people listed below)
- Be getting a qualifying payment (unless you are 70 or over)
- Satisfy a means test
- You must also live in Ireland. You cannot get Fuel Allowance if your heating costs are provided in full as part of your accommodation.
Who can I live with?
To get Fuel Allowance, you must live alone, or with:
- A spouse, civil partner or cohabitant who qualifies for an increase on your pension or social welfare payment, or is getting a qualifying payment in their own right
- Dependent children
- A person who gets Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit, and who is caring for you or for your spouse, partner or cohabitant, or for a qualified child dependant on a full-time basis
- A person getting short-term Jobseeker’s Allowance (less than 312 days) or basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance (less than 364 days)
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- A person getting a qualifying payment (for example, long-term Jobseeker’s Allowance) and who would be eligible for a Fuel Allowance in their own right
- A person aged 70 or over
- A person renting a room from you, where this doesn’t affect your entitlement to Fuel Allowance
- A person you provide accommodation to in your own home, and for whom you get the Accommodation Recognition Payment
Qualifying social welfare payments and pensions
If you are 70 or over, you don’t need a qualifying payment to qualify for Fuel Allowance.
Social welfare payments are either based on your PRSI contributions (social insurance payments) or means-tested social assistance payments.
Qualifying social insurance payments
- State Pension (Contributory)
- Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Contributory) Pension
- Incapacity Supplement under the Occupational Injuries Benefit scheme
- Invalidity Pension
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- Guardian’s Payment (Contributory)
- Death Benefit under the Occupational Injuries Scheme
- A pension or benefit from a country covered by EU Regulations or a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement (provided there is an equivalent Irish payment)
Qualifying social assistance payments
- State Pension (Non-Contributory)
- Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Non-Contributory) Pension
- Disability Allowance
- Blind Pension
- Deserted Wife’s Benefit or Allowance
- One-Parent Family Payment (OFP)
- Guardian’s Payment (Non-Contributory)
- Farm Assist
- Jobseeker’s Transitional payment (JST)
Supplementary Welfare Allowance
You can qualify if you have been getting Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance for more than a year (this is 364 days over 12 months – it is paid on a 7-day week basis so 12 months’ payment is reached after day 364).
Jobseeker’s Allowance
You qualify if you have been getting Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than 312 days (over 12 months – it is paid on a 6-day week basis so 12 months’ payment is reached after day 312). Days on Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) and PUP can count towards the 312 days, if your JB or PUP was immediately before your JA claim.
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You can keep your Fuel Allowance if you move to Jobseeker’s Allowance from One Parent Family Payment, Carer’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Transitional payment.
Spouse, civil partner or cohabitant on a CE scheme
If you are getting Jobseeker’s Allowance, and your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is on a Community Employment (CE) scheme, they can be considered as a qualified adult on your payment if you apply for Fuel Allowance.
Employment or education support schemes
You can keep your Fuel Allowance if you were getting it before you started any of the following schemes:
- Back to Work Allowance
- Back to Education Allowance
- Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA)
- Community Employment (CE)
- Rural Social Scheme (RSS)
- Tús
- CE, RSS and Tús
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