James Lawless
Question:437. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Social Protection to examine the current criteria regarding carers leave/benefits (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18784/24]
View answerTuesday, 30 April 2024
Questions (437)
Written answers
The main income supports to carers provided by the Department of Social Protection are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.7 billion this year.
The Carer’s Leave Act 2001 allows employees to leave work temporarily to provide full-time care and attention for someone who needs it. The minimum statutory entitlement is 13 weeks, with a maximum of 104 weeks in respect of any one care recipient. An employee must have completed at least 12 months continuous service with their employer before being entitled to Carers’ Leave. Responsibility for Carers' Leave, in addition to other forms of family and flexible leave, is a matter for the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
Carer’s Leave from employment is unpaid but a person's job will be kept open for when they return.
During this period of leave from employment a person may qualify for either the social insurance based Carer's Benefit payment or the social assistance based Carer's Allowance payment. It is important to note that a person can take Carers' Leave even where a person does not qualify for these payments.
Carer's Benefit is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce to care for someone in need of full-time care and attention. It is payable for a maximum period of 104 weeks for each person being cared for. It can be taken in one block or in separate periods as long as the combined total does not exceed 104 weeks. A person may be eligible providing they meet the qualifying conditions, including whether they have sufficient PRSI contributions, as follows:-
• Have at least 156 contributions paid at any time since first starting work (entering into the social insurance PRSI system).
They must also have:
• 39 contributions paid in the relevant tax year, or
• 39 contributions paid in the 12-month period before the start of Carer's Benefit, or
• 26 contributions paid in the relevant tax year and 26 contributions paid in the year before that.
In circumstances where the Carer's Benefit entitlement exhausts, after the maximum 104 weeks of payment in respect of the same caree, the carer can apply for the means-tested Carer's Allowance payment.
It should be noted that not all those claiming Carer’s Benefit opt to remain in payment for the full 104 weeks. The average average total number of weeks used by recipients per year from 2020 to 2023 was 71 weeks. Furthermore the payment is complemented by the Carer's Leave Act 2001, which allows employees to leave their employment temporarily to provide full-time care up to a maximum of 104 weeks. In this regard I do not consider it necessary to extend the maximum duration of the payment.
Finally the Carer's Benefit payment is made on the basis of the applicant themselves satisfying the qualifying conditions of that scheme.
I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.