Here is Mental Health Reform’s analysis of the main points from Budget 2013 as they relate to mental health and related services and supports:
Health:
An additional €35 million allocated next year for mental health services. This is in addition to the €35 million allocated for 2012, some of which will have been spent in 2012 and some of which will be used to fund the 370 posts for community mental health teams that were agreed for 2012. It is not clear yet how many posts will be funded with the 2013 funding; however areas to be addressed include old age psychiatry and intellectual disability. Some of the additional funding will be used for suicide prevention and for counselling services through primary care.
In the overall health service, savings of €781 million must be achieved in 2013.
Housing:
€1 million will be transferred from the Dept. of Health to the Dept. of Environment to fund the transfer of people with disabilities from congregated settings and HSE-funded mental health service accommodation into community living. (This is confirmation of a previous announcement).
An additional €10 million will be allocated to the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government for social housing.
Social Protection:
Social welfare rates will remain the same.
The prescription charge for medical card holders will increase from 50 cents to €1.50 per item, with the monthly cap going up from €10 to €19.50.
Reductions will be made to the household benefits package. The telephone allowance will be reduced from €22.60 to €9.50.
Individuals will get a flat rate payment of €35 per month for electricity.
The Drug Payment Scheme threshold is being increased from €132 to €144 per month.
The Community Employment Programme is to get 2,000 extra places at a cost of €2.96 million.
The number of JobBridge Internships will increase by an additional 2,500 places at a cost of €2 million
An additional 2,500 Tús places, which will cost €4.6 million.
€1.44 million will be made available for a new Local Authority Social Employment Scheme with 3,000 places.
The €300 Back to Education Allowance will be discontinued for new and existing participants.
€17.4 million has been allocated to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for the development of a new youth detention facility at Oberstown.
