SavingsSocial welfare recipients will not have their benefits threatened as a result of savings generated by the Government's Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIAs), under new measures introduced by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan.

Claimants in future will be allowed to have up to €20,000 in savings. The Department of Social and Family Affairs said last night that most payments were means-tested and that up to now the maximum allowed in savings was €12,694.

The Minister said that the new measure would remove the anxiety of many welfare recipients, particularly old-age pensioners, who were worried that their SSIAs or other savings would directly impact on the value of their pensions.

The Department said that the maximum that a person could generate in savings under the SSIA savings scheme was €19,000 and that this was below the new threshold.

"The measure is designed to ensure that social welfare means-testing arrangements do not act as a disincentive to claimants who want to save or to penalise those who have been savers in the past. The new measures apply to all capital, regardless of where it is held, be it in an SSIA, credit union, An Post, bank or other financial institution", the Department stated last night.

A Department spokesman told The Irish Times that in the past pensioners had been entitled to a further €7,600 in savings on top of the maximum allowable to other claimants.

"The new arrangements will mean that a single non-contributory pensioner can have savings of €27,600 and still qualify for a pension at the maximum rate", the spokesman stated.

Mr Brennan had said last month that he was sympathetic about changing social welfare rules to disregard SSIA assets.