My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all citizens, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly and fairly as possible. The person concerned was in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance. They applied for the Basic Income for the Arts scheme which is administered by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. The Basic Income for the Arts Payment was awarded and backdated to the date of application, 3 months back. The income from the Basic Income for the Arts scheme is assessable as self-employed means and the revised decision assessing these means was backdated retrospectively from the commencement date of the Basic Income scheme, resulting in the overpayment.
Deciding officers are independent in their decision making and are required to apply the law on a case-by-case basis. All statutory decisions are bound by the relevant provisions of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 and associated regulations. In determining the effective date of a revised decision, which may result in the assessment of an overpayment, a deciding officer will have regard to the facts of each case and the evidence that has come to his or her attention since the original decision was made.
It is open to any person to request a review of any statutory decision made by my Department and any new evidence or information provided to the Department will be considered as part of this review. If a person is dissatisfied with the outcome of this review, they can submit a request for an independent appeal of the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.
To date no appeal has been received. However, my Department is accepting this Parliamentary Question as a request for a further review of this decision. Depending on the outcome of this review any consequent decision will have the option of an appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.
I hope that clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
