Written Answers - Carer's Allowance.
Jan O'Sullivan
Question:
83
Ms O'Sullivan
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the way in which he proposes to meet the commitments made before the 1999 budget to carers' organisations such as an organisation (details supplied).
[2633/99]
Willie Penrose
Question:
103
Mr. Penrose
asked the
Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs
the plans, if any, he has to implement in full the recommendations contained in the report of the interdepartmental committee on the carer's allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[2626/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 103 together.
The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment to carers on low incomes who live with and look after certain people who need full-time care and attention. At the end of December 1998 there were 11,416 carers in receipt of the carer's allowance at an annual cost of over £45 million. I have met with various organisations representing carers on a number of occasions and I am aware of their views, concerns and priorities in relation to carers
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.
As part of that commitment, an overall review of the carer's allowance was completed by an interdepartmental committee, chaired by my Department, and was launched by me in October 1998.
Following a detailed examination of the review and its proposals on the improvement and development of the carer's allowance, I introduced a range of measures in the 1999 budget, at an additional annual cost of over £18 million, to improve and develop the position of carers. To allow more carers to qualify for the allowance, the scope of the scheme is being extended in two important areas, to take effect from August 1999. The first of these is that all carers who are caring for someone between the age of 16 and 65 can now apply for a carer's allowance, regardless of the source of income of the care recipient. The second extension is to include carers who are looking after children in receipt of a domiciliary care allowance from the health boards. It is estimated that over 2,700 carers will qualify from these measures.
In recognition of the importance of respite care for carers, a new annual payment of £200 will be automatically made to all carers in receipt of a qualifying payment to use as they see fit. This payment will be made in June and will benefit over 11,500 carers. In addition, all carers in receipt of a qualifying payment will be entitled, from August 1999, to a free telephone rental allowance regardless of their household composition.
The residency and full-time care and attention requirements are being eased to introduce greater flexibility into the scheme, while still safeguarding the needs and interests of the care recipients. The residency requirements will be relaxed to allow for carers broadly ‘living next door' to qualify. The full-time care and attention requirements will also be relaxed to allow carers to work for up to ten hours per week.
Carers in receipt of a carer's allowance or carers who are caring for a person in receipt of a prescribed relative allowance or constant attendance allowance will now be considered to be qualified carers and will benefit from the measures announced.
Other measures being introduced include the extension of a £75 income disregard to carers in their own right, the preservation of carers' social insurance records and the extension of the free travel pass to all qualified carers.
In addition to the above measures, the rate of carer's allowance will increase in June this year by £3 per week for recipients of the allowance who are under age 66 and by £6 per week for those who are over age 66. This represents an increase of 4.1 per cent and 7.9 per cent respectively on current rates.
The review considered that a needs assessment, encompassing both the needs of the care recipient and the carer, should be introduced. This would separate care needs from income support and could be used by all State organisations which provide reliefs or grants to those in need of care. The Government has agreed that a working group, to be chaired by Deputy Moffatt, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children and comprising membership from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, the health boards and other relevant Departments, be set up to advance this proposal as quickly as possible. This is currently being progressed by the Department of Health and Children.
The review proposed the introduction of a PRSI carer's benefit to facilitate carers in employment to temporarily leave work to care. The review envisaged that this would be financed through the PRSI system. The proposal would, for example, require an increase of the order of 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points in each of the current employee and employer PRSI rates depending on the level of the Exchequer contribution. This proposal, at a cost of £42 million, deserves further full examination and I would be interested in the views of the social partners in this regard.
Looking towards the longer term, a further PRSI benefit arrangement for care recipients i.e. those in need of care was also proposed in the review. Given that there is a high probability that many of us will need some from of long-term care, such an arrangement could enable care recipients to meet some or all of the costs of their own care. The Government agreed, given the complexity of the issues raised, that this proposal should be pursued at both the policy and operational levels as a separate consultancy project and my Department will be progressing this later this year.
In addition, I should also say that my colleagues the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Health and Children and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government have also brought forward proposals of assistance to carers. The Goverment is conscious that such a cross-cuting approach is required.
