Written Answers. - Carer's Allowance.
Pat Carey
Question:
370
Mr. P. Carey
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
his views on the recommendations from the Crosscare carer convention held on 4 April 1998 as they apply to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[11924/98]
The main recommendations from the Crosscare carer's convention that falls within my direct area of responsibility relates to the carer's allowance.
The carer's allowance is a social assistance scheme which provides an income maintenance payment to people who are providing elderly or incapacitated pensioners or certain persons with disabilities with full-time care and attention, and whose income fall below certain limits. At the end of last December 10,330 people were in receipt of a carer's allowance at a cost of over £37 million in 1997. Since its introduction in 1990, the allowance has been improved and expanded progressively over the years. As announced in the budget, the weekly personal rate of the carer's allowance is being increased from next month by £5, from £70.50 to £75.50, for those over the age of 66, and £3 for carers under 66, from £70.50 to £73.50.
In addition, the budget also provided for three additional improvements for carers. The first two of these are of a more technical nature and benefit a small number of people. These improvements are a disregard of non-national disability pensions up to the maximum level of the old age contributory pension in assessing means and the payment of carer's allowance for six weeks after death to carers whose spouses were not in receipt of a social welfare payment. The third improvement is the provision of a free travel pass to all those in receipt of carer's allowance in their own right.
As part of my commitment to improve the supports for carers, I have recently reviewed the operation of the condition whereby the carer is required to provide the care-recipient with full-time care and attention and have decided to adopt a more flexible approach. Carers may now attend educational or training courses or participate in voluntary or community based activities for around ten hours per week provided the carer makes adequate provision for the care-recipient in his or her absence. Government policy has placed an increasing emphasis on the role of community care in supporting the vast majority of people who wish to remain in their own homes and in their own communities. The informal caring which carers provide is crucial in this context.
In its An Action Programme for the Millennium the Government is committed to progressively relaxing the qualifying criteria for the carer's allowance to ensure that more carers can get the benefit and increasing the value of the allowance in real terms. In line with these commitments, an interdepartmental working group, under the chairmanship of my Department, and with representatives from the Department of Finance and the Department of Health and Children, has been set up to review the carer's allowance. This review is considering the purpose and development of the scheme, both in terms of its current operation and its future development. It will also examine the potential for the development of provision for carers through the social insurance system and the role of the private sector.
As this review is still ongoing, it is not possible at this stage to outline any possible recommendations which might be made to develop the carer's allowance. However, the issues raised at the Crosscare Carers Convention have been received by the working group and will be addressed as part of the review process. The review is expected to be completed by the middle of this year. Further developments will be considered, in a budgetary context, in the light of that review.
