Calculating Rent Supplement

Step 1: Calculate your gross assessable weekly income from all sources

Include all income that you and your spouse, partner or cohabitant have from DSP payments, Working Family Payment, employment or training schemes and gross income from employment or self-employment. Include all income from maintenance, if applicable. Include any means from capital that you have (see below).

Some income is not counted for Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) schemes (which includes Rent Supplement) so you do not need to include it when working out your gross income. The following items are not taken into account as income:

• Child Benefit or corresponding payment from an EU member state.
• Mobility Allowance
• Foster care payments from the Health Service Executive
• Payments for accommodating children under the Child Care Act
• Income from Gaeltacht students
• Grants or allowances from schemes promoting the welfare of blind people
• Money received from charitable organisations, for example, St Vincent de Paul
• Compensation awarded by the Compensation Tribunal in respect of Hepatitis C contracted from certain blood products, to those who have disabilities caused by Thalidomide and to those receiving compensation under the Residential Institutions Redress Board
• Payments awarded under the Symphysiotomy ex Gratia Scheme, the Lourdes Hospital Redress Scheme 2007 and the Lourdes Hospital Payment Scheme
• Payments awarded under the Stardust Victims' Compensation Tribunal
• Payments awarded as set out by the Scoping Enquiry into the CervicalCheck Screening Programme
• Any other payments made directly or indirectly by or on behalf of the Minister of Health under the package of support measures established in 2018 for women diagnosed with cervical cancer since 2008
• Any payments received under the Department of Education 1916 Bursary Fund
• Maintenance grant under the Student Grant Scheme
• Uversity payments made under the Higher Education Scholarships for Adult Learners of up to €7000 per year
• Payments made by Sport Ireland under the International Carding Scheme
• Payment made by the Northern Ireland Victim and Survivor Service (VSS) in accordance with the Victims and Survivors (Northern Ireland) Order 2006
• Payments under the Department of Education's school transport scheme for children with special educational needs
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Half-rate Carer's Allowance
• Carer's Support Grant
• Consumer Directed Home Support (CDHS)
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory) and Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Back to Work Family Dividend

Since January 2012, income from working as a home help with the HSE is taken into account.

The capital value of property (except your own home), investments and savings are assessed on a weekly basis as follows:

First €5,000 is not taken into account
Next €10,000 is assessed at €1 per €1,000
Next €25,000 is assessed at €2 per €1,000
Any capital over €40,000 is assessed at €4 per €1,000.

Step 2: Find out what your income in excess of the SWA rate is

The basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance rate is €218 – you will get a higher rate if you have dependents. Find out more about the SWA rate for dependents.

To find out how much of your income is in excess of the SWA rate, you deduct the following from your gross assessible weekly income:

First, deduct any PRSI that you pay and any reasonable travel expenses related to work. Your travel costs will vary depending on where you live and work – ask your local DSP representative for more information.

Then deduct the basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) Rate, appropriate to your family circumstances. For carers and people aged 65 and over, there are additional disregards – see below.

Over 65 disregard: If you are aged 65 or over (or where one of a couple is of aged 65 or over) and have a combined household income greater than the rate of SWA appropriate to your household circumstances, you are allowed a disregard. This disregard is equal to the difference between the maximum rate of State Pension (Contributory) appropriate to your circumstances and the rate of SWA appropriate to your circumstances (even if you are not getting a pension). The effect of this is that a person whose only income is a State pension will pay no more than the minimum household contribution towards their rent.

For example, the Over-65 disregard for a person aged 65 or over would be the maximum State Pension (Contributory) rate (€265.30) minus the SWA rate for a single person (€218) which is €47.30.

The Over-65 disregard for a couple who are both aged 66 and getting separate payments or working would be worked out using the maximum State Pension (Contributory) rate for 2 people minus the basic SWA rate for a couple (€530.60 - €364 = €166.60). Their Over-65 disregard would be €166.60.

Carer’s disregard: If you are getting a carer's payment, the amount of Carer's Allowance or Benefit in payment above the appropriate SWA rate for your situation (either the adult dependant rate for a couple or the personal rate for a single person) is not taken into account. To calculate your carer’s disregard, you subtract the relevant rate of SWA (either €146 or €218) from the actual rate of Carer’s Allowance or Benefit you are getting (not including any Increases for Qualified Children).

Your income in excess of the SWA rate is your contribution to your rent from your means (in addition to your minimum household contribution). If you have no income in excess of the SWA rate, Step 3 does not apply to you.

Step 3: Calculate the additional income disregard or Disability Allowance/Blind Pension earnings disregard (if applicable)

The additional income disregard is a certain amount of your household income that is not taken into account. The first €75 of any additional household income above the SWA rate for your circumstances is not taken into account. Also, 25% of your additional household income over €75 is not taken into account. There is no upper limit on the 25% that can be disregarded.

Additional income includes income from the following:

• Part-time employment or part-time self-employment (under 30 hours per week)
• Full-time employment or full-time self-employment (30 hours or over per week) where you are accepted as being in need of accommodation under the Rental Accommodation Scheme
• Training schemes provided on behalf of the Department of Education and (for example, Youthreach) and Education and Training Board (ETB) training
• Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
• Rural Social Scheme
• TÚS
• The Part-time Job Incentive Scheme
• Community Employment
• Skillnets
• Gateway Scheme
• Working Family Payment
• Maintenance over €95.23*

*Maintenance is assessed as additional income and maintenance payments up to €95.23 per week are assessed in full. (The reason for this is that the first €95.23 per week of maintenance payments are considered to be a contribution towards your housing expenses.) The additional income disregard applies to maintenance payments above this amount. If you are getting maintenance under €95.23 do not include it in this step. If your maintenance is over €95.23, you should subtract €95.25 and include the excess maintenance when working out your additional income disregard.

You work out your additional income using the formula: (A+B) – C or the value of A – whichever is the smallest amount.

A = income from employment, prescribed employment or training schemes, Working Family Payment and maintenance payments of over €95.23 a week

B = assessable weekly income from all other sources

C = SWA rate for family circumstances

You subtract PRSI, pension contributions and Revenue-approved income continuance payments from your additional income figure.

You then subtract €75 and get 25% of the remaining figure. Add €75 and 25% of the subtotal together – this is your additional income disregard.

Disability Allowance/Blind Pension earnings disregard

If you are getting Disability Allowance or Blind Pension and work, up to €165 per week of your earnings from work is not taken into account. If you are working and getting Disability Allowance or Blind Pension, you can either use this earnings disregard or the additional income disregard (but not both). Use whichever is in your best interest.