Fuel Allowance

Fuel Allowance is a payment to help with the cost of heating your home during the winter months. It is paid to only one person in a household. The Fuel Allowance season normally begins in late September of each year and ends in April.

The current rate of Fuel Allowance is €33 per week. You can choose to get the Fuel Allowance paid every week or paid in 2 instalments (lump sums).

To get Fuel Allowance you must:

• Live alone (or only with certain people listed below)

• Be getting a qualifying payment (unless you are 70 or over)

• Satisfy a means test

• Live in Ireland.

You cannot get Fuel Allowance if your heating costs are provided in full as part of your accommodation.

To get Fuel Allowance, you must live alone, or with:

• A spouse, civil partner or cohabitant who qualifies for an increase on your pension or social welfare payment, or is getting a qualifying payment in their own right

• Dependent children

• A person who gets Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit, and who is caring for you or for your spouse, partner or cohabitant, or for a qualified child dependant on a full-time basis

• A person getting short-term Jobseeker's Allowance (less than 312 days) or basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance (less than 364 days)

• A person getting a qualifying payment (for example, long-term Jobseeker’s Allowance) and who would be eligible for a Fuel Allowance in their own right

• A person aged 70 or over

• A person renting a room from you, where this doesn’t affect your entitlement to Fuel Allowance

• A person you provide accommodation to in your own home, and for whom you get the Accommodation Recognition Payment

Only one Fuel Allowance payment is paid to a household.

If you are 70 or over, you don’t need a qualifying payment to qualify for Fuel Allowance.

Qualifying social insurance payments are:

• 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

• Jobseeker's Transitional payment (JST)

You can qualify if you have been getting Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance for more than a year.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

You qualify if you have been getting Jobseeker's Allowance for more than 312 days. Days on Jobseeker's Benefit if your JB was immediately before your JA claim. You can keep your Fuel Allowance if you move to Jobseeker’s Allowance from One Parent Family Payment, Carer’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Transitional payment.

Spouse, civil partner or cohabitant on a CE scheme

If you are getting Jobseeker’s Allowance, and your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is on a Community Employment (CE) scheme, they can be considered as a qualified adult on your payment if you apply for Fuel Allowance.

Employment or education support schemes

You can keep your Fuel Allowance if you were getting it before you started any of the following schemes:

• Back to Work Allowance

• Back to Education Allowance

• Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA)

• Community Employment (CE)

• Rural Social Scheme (RSS)

• Tús

CE, RSS and Tús

You can apply for Fuel Allowance at any point when you are on CE, RSS or Tús if you meet all the relevant qualifying conditions for Fuel Allowance. If you were getting a long-term qualifying payment before starting CE, RSS or Tús, you satisfy the qualifying payment requirement.

For the 2024/2025 Fuel Allowance season, time spent on CE, Tús and RSS can be used to meet the minimum number of days on a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance.

Half-rate payments

You do not qualify for Fuel Allowance if you are getting a half-rate payment in addition to a qualifying payment. This does not apply to half-rate Carer’s Allowance.

How your income is assessed for Fuel Allowance

Fuel Allowance is a means-tested payment. This means that the Department of Social Protection (DSP) examines all your sources of income. Your gross weekly income must be below a certain amount to pass the means test.

You are usually accepted as passing the means test for Fuel Allowance, if you are getting a qualifying social assistance (means-tested) payment.

If you get a means-tested payment, you have already satisfied the means test and it does not need to be done again.

Social welfare payments and other income

Income from some social welfare payments and certain other sources are not counted in the means test:

• All social assistance payments are not counted

• If you get a social insurance payment and your spouse or partner gets a social assistance payment, the income from the social assistance payment is not counted

• Half-rate Carer’s Allowance is not counted

• Disablement Benefit is not counted

• Any maintenance received in respect of a child is not counted

• Compensation awards under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme are not counted

• Compensation awards to people who have contracted Hepatitis C from contaminated blood products

You can read the full list of payments that are disregarded (not counted).

Capital

Capital includes the value of savings, investments, shares or any property you have (but not your own home).

If you are under 70, the first €20,000 of your capital is not taken into account.

If you are 70 or over, the first €50,000 of your capital is not taken into account.

Capital is assessed by assuming an amount of weekly income for the capital you have above a certain figure.

Second property

If you have a second property (property other than your own home), the rental income from that property is assessed. However, the capital value (less any mortgage outstanding on the property) will be assessed if the property is not rented.

Renting a room in your home

If you are renting out a room in your home, you can have an income from rent of up to €269.23 a week (€14,000 per year) without affecting your Fuel Allowance. The person renting the room in your home must use the room for a minimum of 28 consecutive days and cannot be an employee of yours or an immediate family member.

The Accommodation Recognition Payment (for hosting people from Ukraine) is not taken into account in the means test. Since 1 February 2024, someone renting a room from you, or for whom you get the Accommodation Recognition Payment, does not have to:

• Get a qualifying social welfare payment, nor

• Qualify for Fuel Allowance in their own right.

UK Winter Fuel Payment

Some UK pensioners living in Ireland may be getting a Winter Fuel Payment from the UK. If they are, the Winter Fuel Payment is assessed in the means test for Fuel Allowance.

Fuel Allowance income limit for people over 70

You can have income of up to €512 per week, or €1,024 per week for a couple and still qualify for Fuel Allowance. Your capital (savings, property and investments) are also assessed. The first €50,000 of your capital is not included in the means test.

Fuel Allowance income limit for people under 70

If you are under 70, you must be getting a qualifying payment to apply for Fuel Allowance. To qualify for Fuel Allowance, your means must be less than the maximum State Pension (Contributory), including any increases you could get for dependents or living alone, plus an additional €200. This is called the ‘assessable income limit’.

For example, the maximum State Pension (Contributory) for a single person aged 66 is €277.30. You then add €200 to €277.30, which gives a total weekly income limit of €477.30.

Below for examples of weekly assessable income limits.

• Single person under 70 (€477.30)

• Couple (where qualified adult is under 66) (€662.00)

• Couple (where qualified adult is 66 or over, but under 70) (€725.90)

The current weekly rate of Fuel Allowance is €33. You can get your Fuel Allowance paid weekly or in 2 lump sum instalments.

If you apply for Fuel Allowance after the start of the Fuel Allowance season, it will not be backdated.

You do not need to reapply for Fuel Allowance each year as long as, your circumstances remain the same and you continue to get the same social welfare payment.

Online application

You can apply for the Fuel Allowance online if you have a MyGovID account to apply online.

If you can’t apply online, you can use a paper application form. If you are aged under 70, fill in the NFS1 form to apply for fuel allowance (pdf).If you are aged 70 or over, fill in the NFS2 form to apply for fuel allowance (pdf).