Vulnerable Person & Irish Water: No Exceptions For Any Reason?

sadie9

My relative is a vulnerable person who cannot manage their application themselves. They missed the June 30th deadline. They want to pay their water charges. They cannot fill in forms, they do not have a TV or a smartphone, they can't use the internet. Since the Community Welfare officer role was abolished this person has no contact with social welfare. They live in the community on a Disability Allowance, and are an outpatient at a mental health facility. They have no recollection of a letter from Social telling them to apply for the grant. 
I phoned on their behalf and was told There Are No Exceptions. That vulnerable person cannot apply for the grant under any circumstances because they did not register before 30th June. They will be paying 160 this year. So Vulnerable persons (mental health issues, elderly, dementia...) need not apply.
I've written an email to vulnerable@water.ie and Joan Burton's office. Joan Burton's office is the only one to have replied so far. And their reply was to pass it to Minister Kelly's office!! Minister Kelly thinks you can apply for the Grant without being registered with Irish Water as per his quote this afternoon! 

Irish Water: Aaron P

Hi sadie9,

Thank you for contacting us.

Customers who did not register with Irish Water before June 30th 2015 will not be eligible for this year's Water Conservation Grant. However, customers who registered with us after this date will be eligible to apply for future grant payments. Your relative can register with Irish Water by contacting 1890 448 448. You can email vulnerablecustomer@water.ie if you have any further queries in relation to this matter.

I hope this helps,
Kind regards,
Aaron

sadie9

Thanks for the reply Aaron. I wish it helped but it doesn't because it is a repetition of what I have already been told. I am clear about the deadline of 30th June. 
I do understand also that Irish Water staff are only relaying the message on behalf of government policy, regardless of any personal opinion on its fairness or unfairness.
I already emailed vulnerable@water.ie on Thursday and today but have received no response not even an auto-reply. I would think if/when I do get a response I will be told if my relative wasn't put on a special register of some sort then its tough.
It's not a favour I want for my relative. 
It's an appreciation of the fact that some individuals may in very difficult circumstances and that provision should be made for those people (this includes people with dementia and mental health issues). As we no longer have the Community Welfare officer roles those sort of people do not have anyone to help them this sort of stuff, unless their case is extreme enough to be on a social workers list.

Irish Water: Niall

Hi sadie9,

I understand your concern but as the details were not registered with Irish Water before the deadline your relative would not be eligible for this years grant. However, if the details were registered after the deadline your relative will be eligible for future grants.

If you have any other queries, we would advise emailing vulnerablecustomer@water.ie or you can contact us on 1890 448 448 and a member of our team will be happy to assist you further.

Kind regards,
Niall

sadie9

Hi, I still have not gotten any reply from vulnerable@water.ie so I am not sure they even exist. 
I am still annoyed because before any person who was already receiving the Household Benefits package would also get a payment towards their water automatically, without the need to fill forms or go online or ring anyone. 

Here is the way things used to be: taken from Citizens Advice Website
[font=Arial, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif, Verdana]"From January 2015 the Household Benefits Package will include a new annual Water Support payment of €100 (made up of four equal payments of €25). The Water Support payment will be paid to everyone who qualifies for the Household Benefits Package. This includes people who are not customers of Irish Water and who either have their own water supply or are members of a group scheme. "[/font]


Then with the Grant system it became a 'you snooze you lose' sort of situation. We are imposing a deadline on this folks and tough if you suffer a mental illness, have dementia or just cannot manage forms and applications. 
So I am wondering is it fair that a benefit that was due to someone automatically because they were in receipt of the Household Benefit package then became a complex form-filling application system with a deadline involving 2 state agencies. How come people can apply to get their taxes back for up to 4 years? Why are they not eligible for this years grant up to 31 Dec 2015? 
Isn't it discrimination against the most vulnerable already on the Household package?

FreshCoffee

Hi Sadie, I noticed your post on the front page as I also looks out for some vulnerable people.

What the Irish Water reps here have not explained is that (as I understand it) they have no hand, act or part in the water grant and so are in no position to discuss/allow exceptions of any kind.

It is a government decision how the rules are set and they would have to allow exceptions which is very unlikely unless a large number of people are affected.  IMHO your best approach at this stage (if you have the energy) is to make as much noise as possible about the issue to political representatives and the media. Politicians are very sensitive to bad news as elections approach.  An evening dedicated to firing off emails to lots of politicians and media organisations would be a good start. Good luck.

Canadel

 It's the Government who initialized the grant and the Department of Social Protection who are issuing it. IW have next to nothing to do with it -they aren't in the habit of giving away money, never mind to people who miss deadlines. If you're going to be phoning on behalf of this vulnerable person, perhaps you should take control of their affairs altogether and make sure they are in order?

TheChizler

It looks like you might be emailing the wrong address OP.

Irish Water: Mairead

Hi sadie9

sadie9 wrote: »

Hi, I still have not gotten any reply fromvulnerable@water.ie so I am not sure they even exist.
I am still annoyed because before any person who was already receiving the Household Benefits package would also get a payment towards their water automatically, without the need to fill forms or go online or ring anyone.

Here is the way things used to be: taken from Citizens Advice Website
[font=Arial, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif, Verdana]"From January 2015 the Household Benefits Package will include a new annual Water Support payment of e100 (made up of four equal payments of e25). The Water Support payment will be paid to everyone who qualifies for the Household Benefits Package. This includes people who are not customers of Irish Water and who either have their own water supply or are members of a group scheme. "[/font]


Then with the Grant system it became a 'you snooze you lose' sort of situation. We are imposing a deadline on this folks and tough if you suffer a mental illness, have dementia or just cannot manage forms and applications.
So I am wondering is it fair that a benefit that was due to someone automatically because they were in receipt of the Household Benefit package then became a complex form-filling application system with a deadline involving 2 state agencies. How come people can apply to get their taxes back for up to 4 years? Why are they not eligible for this years grant up to 31 Dec 2015?
Isn't it discrimination against the most vulnerable already on the Household package?

I completely understand your concerns.

However, if you contact us on vulnerablecustomer@water.ie, we can send you more information in regard to becoming an authorised representative and assist you further.

Regarding your query on the 2015 Water Conservation Grant, as previously stated, any household registered before June 30th 2015 is eligible to apply for the Water Conservation Grant for this year. The Water Conservation Grant is paid and administered by the Department of Social Protection to any household who registered with us by June 30th , 2015. You can contact the Departments Water Conservation Grant team on 0761 087 890 or 1890 100 043.

By registering the property now, the household will qualify for future grants.

You can find more information on the Water Conservation Grant on www.watergrant.ie.

You can also find more information on Irish Water and Vulnerable customers here.

I hope you found this information helpful.

Kind regards,
Mairead

sadie9

Thanks Mairead. I know all that already. My issue is with the registering by June 30th. If you couldn't do that because you couldn't do that, through no fault of your own, then you lose the €100. Even if you would have been eligible for it earlier in the year through the Household Benefits package that didn't require any complex application process. Not your problem I know. It's the registration by 30th June is my real issue, whereas before when the water conservation payments were going to go through Household Benefits, the person would be eligible all year for that even if on a pro-rata basis.

Thanks for your help in any case.