Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 January 2026
94. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Social Protection whether he will streamline approval of exceptional needs payments for core household goods, such as flooring and basic furniture, in order to ensure that social housing allocations are not delayed by lack of floors or other basic furniture in the allocated unit. [2890/26]
View answerUnder the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, my department may make an Additional Needs Payment (ANP) to help meet expenses that an eligible person cannot pay from their weekly income, personal and/or household resources. The ANP scheme is demand led and administered by Community Welfare Officers (CWOs) in the Community Welfare Service (CWS), taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.
An ANP is specific to an individual or household and cannot be made in advance of accepting an allocation of housing and signing the tenancy agreement. Where a person accepts an allocation of housing and faces increased or exceptional costs including essential household items, an ANP may be considered to help meet these additional costs. A CWO will assess such applications on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the individual or households previous accommodation, financial situation, available resources, the necessity of the expenditure, and the overall suitability of the assistance requested. This ensures that individuals transitioning to new housing are supported where a genuine financial need exists.
Claim processing times are monitored at both a national and local level in the CWS, with targeted interventions available to support and mitigate delays in any area across the Country, where fluctuations in claim loads are observed. This maintains the claim processing timeframes nationwide for ANPs.
Work on hand nationally for ANPs is within the scheme's normal processing levels and fully completed applications, where the required documentation is supplied, are generally processed within ten working days. Where it is clear that a person has an urgent or immediate need, every effort is made to ensure that the claim is processed on the same day. CWOs are very experienced and can generally assess when a case is so urgent that it requires an immediate response.
I trust this clarifies the matter.
