This week marked the last week that recipients of the Fuel Allowance will receive payments until the program’s September restart.
The social welfare benefit is a €33 per week payment made over a 28-week period from September to April. The date of the last payment for the 2022/2023 year was 10 April 2023.
The fuel allowance has not yet been scheduled to restart for the 2023–2024 season. However, beneficiaries should anticipate receiving their money back by the end of September, Dublin Live reported.
Fuel Allowance eligibility requirements include living alone (or just with a few of the persons specified below), receiving a qualifying payment (unless you are 70 or older), and passing a means test.
If you are 70 or over, you don’t need a qualifying payment to qualify for Fuel Allowance. Here are the qualifying payments for those aged under 70:
- State Pension (Contributory)
- Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Contributory) Pension
- Incapacity Supplement under the Occupational Injuries Benefit scheme
- Invalidity Pension
- 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
- 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 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 was immediately before your JA claim. You can keep your Fuel Allowance if you move to JA from OFP, Carer’s Allowance or JST.
- Jobseeker’s Transitional payment (JST)
- If you are taking part in certain schemes – Back to Work Allowance, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA), Rural Social Scheme, Tús or Community Employment and are entitled to keep your secondary benefits
You must live alone or only with:
- A dependent spouse, civil partner or cohabitant and/or dependent children
- A person who is getting Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit and is caring for you or for your dependent spouse, partner or cohabitant on a full-time basis
- A person getting short-term Jobseeker’s Allowance or basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance
- Other people who are getting the qualifying payments and who would also be eligible for a Fuel Allowance in their own right.
Only one Fuel Allowance payment is paid to a household. If more than one person in the household is getting a social assistance payment, you can decide who applies for Fuel Allowance.