Budget 2025 Lacks Long-Term Strategy for Meaningful Support to People with Disabilities.

A series of once off payments in Budget 2025 represent a missed opportunity to develop a long-term strategic plan to respond to the needs of people with disabilities and the organisations that serve them according to Rehab Group, one of the largest disability service providers in the country,  

The people who use Rehab services were very clear with the pre-Budget asks. They wanted to see a Cost of Disability payment introduced which would address the additional needs that they have on account of their disability.  While on the surface, the €12 weekly increase in welfare weekly payment, double payment in October and the once off payment of €400 in November are welcome, they lack the kind of strategic thinking required to address the additional costs of living with a disability in the long-term.  

While the increase of 20,000 Personal Assistant (PA) hours and 40,000 home help hours in Budget 2025 is a welcome step, there are significant concerns about implementation. The lack of employees to provide these services remains a major obstacle, as the necessary visas for foreign workers have not yet been processed. Without addressing this staffing issue, these additional hours may not translate into meaningful support for those in need, particularly people with disabilities. We do welcome the commitment to align the PA/Home Support rate with Older Person Services.  

It was also particularly disappointing that the employment of people with a disability was not addressed in any meaningful way in this Budget.  Ireland has the lowest employment rate of people with disabilities across the OECD and EU countries. Indeed, the Government failed to use the one funding mechanism it has at its disposal to promote the employment of people with a disability – the Wage Subsidy Scheme.  

The failure to increase the rate of the Wage Subsidy Scheme is particularly alarming for Rehab Enterprises, which is one of the largest non-governmental employers of people with disabilities.  The last increase in the WSS rate was in January 2022 and since then three increases in the National Minimum (NMW) have been applied. The decision not to increase the rate flies in the face of the recently published Department of Social Protection Review of WSS which promised a “regular review” of the WSS rates.  In our Pre-Budget Submission, Rehab had called on the Government to restore the link between the WSS and the NMW – bearing in mind that when the WSS was first introduced it was 70% of the NMW.  It is now just 46% of the minimum wage. Rehab Enterprises estimates that the latest increase in the Minimum Wage will cost its businesses an additional €116,000 which is significant for our businesses which operate on low-profit margins.   

While we welcome the additional €336million for disability services, we await details of the breakdown of this funding particularly in relation to the breakdown between funding for existing levels of service and new development funding.  We remain extremely   concerned that the funding provided for disability services is insufficient to sustain existing services let alone adequate to fund the ambitious targets set out in the National Action Plan for Disability Services, 2024-2026.  

Just weeks out from the next election, the Government has missed the opportunity to fully honour their commitments in the Programme for Government for a “new social contract” for people with disabilities and the organisations that work with them and to fulfil their obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

ENDS 

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