The respite care grant (RCG) is an annual payment made automatically to people in receipt of carer’s allowance, carer’s benefit, or domiciliary care allowance from my Department. Other people who are not in receipt of one of these payments, but who are providing full time care and attention can also apply for the grant via separate application.
The RCG is paid automatically on the 1st Thursday in June of the years in question and is paid by a number of sections in my Department, via various computer platforms. As a result, not all of the information requested by the Deputy is available. Details of the number of RCG, broken down by scheme and are shown in the table. However, the information requested in relation to customers resident in individual counties is not available on a county basis.
Table 1 - Respite Care Grant Number of Carers (2010 to date)
Year
|
Carer’s Allowance
|
Carer’s Benefit
|
Domiciliary Care Allowance
|
Standalone RCG
|
2010
|
38,260
|
1,697
|
23,110
|
5,184
|
2011
|
39,601
|
1,223
|
23,710
|
4,629
|
2012
|
37,853 (to June 2012)
|
1,210 (to date)
|
24,245 (to June 2012)
|
4,149 (to date)
|