Future Directions and Recommendations for Reform

In the 1990s and early 2000s, disability policy was marked by innovation – the Disability Allowance replaced the DPMA in 1996, shifting from a contingency-based scheme (with limited capacity) to a demand-based one (open to all eligible). There has been an upward trend in spending over the past two decades: disability expenditure increased from €825.9m in 2000

363 to €4,448.6 billion in 2019.364 The 2021 annual expenditure on Disability Allowance

is estimated at €1.8 billion.365

Whilst robust, recent reports point to deficiencies in the system, raising the issue of reforms and the future direction of the Irish social welfare system.

Comparison with International Social Welfare Schemes From an international perspective, Ireland’s social welfare system provides robust support for people with disabilities and provides career support, while there is room to learn from other countries elsewhere.

Ireland is among a minority of EU countries to facilitate long-term caregiving without any cut in a carer’s pension entitlements, this is a positive entitlement as carer’s can lose up to 19% of their pension in Latvia, and 22% in Slovakia.

366

However, Ireland is an outlier in the northwest of Europe (if not in the EU as a whole), because public expenditure on long-term care is less than the value of informal long-term care given in the state,

367

meaning that there is unpaid and uncompensated caregiving taking place. There is room for Ireland to consider increasing the Carer’s Allowance and increasing the amount of professional support for carers in order to reduce the gap between care value and care expenditure, and to bring the state into line with neighboring European countries. The cuts which Ireland imposed on social welfare during the economic crisis from 2008 to 2014 were also unexceptional by international standards.

368

However, Ireland’s sluggishness in restoring social welfare payments to pre-Eurocrisis levels may mean that they are failing to vindicate the right to a minimum standard of living enshrined in Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The fact that the Pandemic Unemployment

363 DEASP, 2000 Social Protection Annual Statistics Report. 364 DEASP, 2019 Social Protection Annual Statistics Report 365 DEASP, ‘Government publishes the Cost of Disability Report,’ 7 December 2021. 366 Commission, ‘Study on exploring the incidence and costs of informal long-term care in the EU’ VC (2019/0227) 122. 367 Commission, ‘Study on exploring the incidence and costs of informal long-term care in the EU’ VC (2019/0227) 16, 134, and 148. 368 Charles O’Sullivan and Donna McNamara, ‘The ‘Necessity' of Austerity and its Relationship with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Case Study of Ireland and the United Kingdom’ (2021) 21(1) Human Rights Law Review 157.

Payment (PUP) was higher than the Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, or Carer’s Allowance indicates that these payments can be increased where there is the political will. Such an increase would be more than a political statement however – it would go some way to reinstating people with disabilities Article 28 rights, which were restricted by austerity.

Future Directions and Recommendations for Reform

Data from the EU-SILC indicates the at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) rate for people with disabilities in Ireland was 37.8% in 2019, compared to the estimated EU-28 average of 29.1%.

369

The figures demonstrate that ‘poverty rates for people who self-report a disability are among the highest in Europe.’

370

The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 outlines ambitions to reduce the AROPE figure to ‘no more than 22.7% by 2030.’

371

The INDECON report on the Cost of Disability may prove influential in reaching these ambitions and in informing future policy, noting that social welfare payments fail to meet the increased cost of disability, estimated to range from ‘€9,600 - €12,300 per annum and for those with limited disabilities from €8,700 – €10,000 per annum.’

372

In light of this, the present system could benefit greatly from reform – as Murphy stresses, ‘Ireland could do significantly more to address inequality,’ which ‘could be done without threatening efficiency.’

373

Social welfare reform ought to adopt a ‘multifaceted approach involving increased cash payments, enhanced access to service provision and specific targeted grant programmes.’

374

The Indecon report urges that ‘[N]ew ways of working, new policy instruments and institutional innovations are required if additional resources are to be effective in significantly improving on social outcomes.’

375

Redevelopment of both the structure and the underlying objectives of the welfare system is crucial, and steps are being taken to spur such innovative reform, as detailed below.

369 Eurostat ‘People at risk of poverty or social exclusion by level of activity limitation, sex and age’ <http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=hlth_dpe010&lang=en> accessed 2 December 2021. 370 Government of Ireland, ‘Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025: Ambition, Goals, Commitments’ p.55. 371 Government of Ireland, ‘Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025: Ambition, Goals, Commitments’ p.56. 372 Indecon, The Cost of Disability in Ireland, (2021) p.135. 373 Mary Murphy, “The politics of redirecting the social policy – towards a double movement,” in Transforming Ireland: Challenges, Critiques, Resources, (Manchester University Press 2010) [5] 374 Mary Murphy, “The politics of redirecting the social policy – towards a double movement,” in Transforming Ireland: Challenges, Critiques, Resources, (Manchester University Press 2010) [5] 375 NESC, The Developmental Welfare State, 2005, xv.

In regards to responding to the core issue of the rising cost of disability, the report notes that the current system ‘can be efficiently used to provide income supplements to individuals with disabilities in Ireland to address the rising cost of disability… [at] limited additional administrative costs.’

376

The NDA have argued it is ‘a small amount to pay to advance the cause of equality,’ in proposing the establishment of a Cost of Disability Payment, ‘designed to facilitate participation.’

377

It has also been recommended that core social protection rates be increased, following the VPSJ Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) recommendations, an increase of €9.80 per annum until 2026.

378

Furthermore, Social Justice Ireland recommends the Government commit to implementing benchmarks to maintain social security in line with average earnings in an effort to combat poverty; specifically, a benchmark equivalent 27.5 per cent of average weekly earnings.

379

On the question of increasing participation, the 2003 Report of the Working Group on the Review of the Illness and Disability Schemes concluded that a loss of secondary benefits disincentivised employment for those availing of supports.

380

Recommendations in the 2017 Make Work Pay report to increase in the earnings threshold for retention of Disability Allowance and the medical card were implemented, indicating a willingness to progress the area of disability welfare to better vindicate the rights of people with disabilities.

381

Nonetheless, it is thought that more meaningful supports are necessary to increase participation, such as detailed assessments of employability and work capacity.

382

The Government seems attuned to the challenges facing future development of disabilityspecific supports – for instance, a ‘fast-track’ return to benefits system is being designed to allow recipients to restore their benefit should employment prove unsuccessful.

383

This would effectively operate as a safety-net, allowing people with disabilities to explore employment

376 NESC, The Developmental Welfare State, 2005, 10. 377 National Disability Authority, “Report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities: Costs Budgeting for Equality <https://nda.ie/disability-overview/key-policy-documents/report-of-the-commission-onthe-status-of-people-with-disabilities/a-strategy-for-equality/a-strategy-for-equality-report-of-the-commissionon-the-status-of-people-with-disabilities/costs-budgeting-for-equality/> accessed 24 January 2022. 378 Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice Minimum Essential Budget Standards Research Centre, Submission to the DSP, MESL Pre-Budget 2022, (2021) p.3. 379 Social Justice Ireland, Policy Briefing, Budget Choices 2021, September 2020, p.9. 380 Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs (2003b), Report of the Working Group on the Review of the Illness and Disability Payment Schemes, Dublin: Stationery Office. 381 DEASP (2017), Make Work Pay for People with Disabilities: Report to Government 2017, Make Work Pay Interdepartmental Group, Dublin: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. 382 NESC, The Developmental Welfare State, 2005. 383 National Disability Authority, Independent assessment of progress under NDIS 2017-2018, (2019).

without fear of disentitlement to welfare supports which may later become necessary – thereby progressing the aim of increased participation and integration of income supports with employment services.

A survey of people living with disabilities in Ireland unveiled the difficulties in accessing supports: one applicant stated that “[G]etting disability allowance was a nightmare and I live in fear of having to go through it all again,” whilst another felt “the process is not user friendly.”

384

Notably, disability allowance appeals accounted for more than a quarter of social welfare appeals in 2020, totalling an increase of 6.7% from 2019. Of the 7,410 appeals lodged, approximately 63% were allowed, partly allowed or revised. These figures underscore the need for reform in the application and appeals process, which is gradually being addressed: the Department have undertaken to redesign the application form for the disability allowance with a view to make the process simpler and more efficient, which was due to be introduced ‘before the end of 2021.’

385

In addition, it has been recommended that the Department review the appeals and applications process to ensure it is sufficiently clear for claimants the need to ‘supply all necessary information to assess eligibility when they are making a claim.’,

386 to

make the application process more user-friendly.

Such reforms to the social welfare system may help to realise an Irish society in which people with disabilities can enjoy full participation in society, without risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Chapter Conclusion

This chapter has provided an analysis of the supports in the Irish social welfare system which may vindicate the rights of people with disabilities.

It has outlined the social assistance payments, the social insurance payments, and the other specific-need assistance which is available to support people with disabilities and their carers in Ireland. The outline noted difficulties in application and appeals procedures, shortcomings in payment rates, and insufficiency in specific supports in health and housing. The chapter then

384 Indecon, The Cost of Disability in Ireland, (2021) p.135. 385 Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2020, Chapter 10: Management of social welfare appeals. 386 Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2020, Chapter 10: Management of social welfare appeals.

considered the current social welfare scheme in a historical context and noted great improvement in social welfare provision in the last two and a half decades.

Placed in comparative perspective, the Irish social welfare system was not found to be an outlier by European and international standards. However, public expenditure on long-term care could be increased in line with best practice in northwest Europe, and other welfare payments could be reinstated to bring the State back in line with the requirements of Article 28 of the CRPD. This chapter noted a need for reform to decrease the risk of poverty or social exclusion for people with disabilities. Reforms of payment rates, support service availability, employment facilitation, and application procedures were considered.