The Government acknowledges the important role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy.
The key role of my Department is to provide income supports where an income need may arise due to unemployment, illness/disability and caring responsibilities. The payments provided are an income support to people who cannot earn, or can only earn a limited income, and who have no other means or resources to rely upon.
The main income supports to carers provided by my Department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending in 2023 is expected to amount to almost €1.6 billion on these payments.
Carer’s Allowance is primarily aimed at carers on low incomes who look after people in need of full-time care and attention. The two principal conditions for receipt of Carer’s Allowance are that full time care and attention is required and being provided, and that the applied means test is satisfied. The application of the means test ensures that the limited resources available can be targeted at those with the greatest income need.
It is important to note that eligibility for Carer’s Allowance is not contingent on a particular disability or illness, the severity of disability or the age of the person being cared for.
As part of Budget 2022 I made significant changes to the Carer’s Allowance means test. These were the first changes to the means test in 14 years.
• The capital and savings disregard was increased from €20,000 to €50,000, and
• For carer’s who work, the weekly income disregard was increased from €332.50 to €350 for a single person, and from €665 to €750 for a couple. These are the highest disregards in the social welfare system.
Non means tested payments are also available to carers, including Carer's Benefit, the Carer's Support Grant and the Domiciliary Care Allowance.
The Carer's Benefit payment is an entitlement based on social insurance contributions. It is a weekly payment made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care. It is payable for a period of 2 years (104 weeks) for each care recipient and may be claimed over separate periods up to a total of 2 years. Carer’s Benefit is paid at a rate of €237 a week for one care recipient.
The annual Carer’s Support Grant is available to all family carers providing full-time care and assistance, regardless of means. As part of Budget 2021, I increased the Carer’s Support Grant by €150 to its current rate of €1,850. This is the highest rate since its introduction. This grant is not available for any other group.
Domiciliary Care Allowance is designed as a support for a child aged under 16 with a severe disability, who requires ongoing care and attention, substantially over and above the care and attention usually required by a child of the same age. The payment is not based on the type of disability but is based on the impact of the disability and it is not means tested.
In acknowledging the financial burden families of sick children face I have made significant changes to the Domiciliary Care Allowance payment over the last two years.
• As part of Budget 2022, I extended the period during which Domiciliary Care Allowance can be paid for children in hospital from 3 months to 6 months.
• As part of Budget 2023 and with effect from January, Domiciliary Care Allowance is available for babies who remain in an acute hospital after birth for a period of 6 months. During both these extended periods of eligibility and where other conditions are met, a carer may also receive Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit and the Carer's Support Grant
• I increased the monthly payment by €21 to its current rate of €330.00.
As part of Budget 2023, I announced further improvements to payments for carers including:
• A €12 increase in the maximum rate of Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Benefit with proportionate increases for people receiving a reduced rate.
• The Half-rate Carer’s Allowance is now disregarded in the means assessment for Fuel Allowance.
• A double payment for carers paid in October 2022 benefitting over 118,000 carers.
• A €500 payment for people receiving Carer’s Support Grant paid in November 2022.
• Carers received the Christmas Bonus Double Payment.
More recently the Government announced a further lump-sum €200 payment for those in receipt of weekly social payments, including carers, which will be paid in April.
Apart from the income supports specifically in place for family carers, this Department also provides a support under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme. Under this scheme, the Department can make a single Exceptional Needs Payment to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. An Urgent Needs Payment may be made to persons who may not normally qualify for supplementary welfare allowance but who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources or where an alternative is not available at that time. These payments are administered by the Community Welfare Service of the Department and are payable at the discretion of the Community Welfare officer taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case.
I will continue to keep the range of supports provided by this Department under review. However, any changes to the current carer supports, such as the removal or exemption of means-testing for particular cohorts, as suggested by the Deputy, would have to be considered in an overall budgetary and policy context.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
