My department provides a range of income supports, including carer’s benefit(CB), carer’s allowance(CA), and domiciliary care allowance (DCA,) for those who are providing care, on a full-time basis, to a person who requires such care. There is also an annual carer’s support grant (CSG) of €1,700, which is paid automatically on the first Thursday in June, to those in receipt of these payments. Other carers who are providing full-time care but are not in receipt of CB,CA or DCA may also apply for a CSG which is not means tested.
In order to qualify for carer’s allowance a person must generally reside with and provide full-time care and attention to a person who needs such care. The decision, as to whether a carer is providing full-time care and attention, is made by a deciding officer based on the evidence supplied in each a case. When an application is deemed not to satisfy the full-time care provision, the applicant may request a review of the decision and if still dissatisfied with the outcome may appeal the decision to an independent Appeals Office.
The full-time care provision is relaxed in certain circumstances, for example the carer can work or engage in training provided the aggregate hours in work and/or training does not exceed 15 hours per week.
One of the conditions for receipt of jobseeker’s allowance is that a person must be available for and genuinely seeking full-time employment. If a person get part-time or casual work (up to and including 3 days per week), they may still be paid Jobseeker's Allowance for the other days. However, they must show that you are trying to get full-time employment.
In circumstances where a person does not meet either the conditions for carers allowance or for jobseekers allowance, they may apply for supplementary welfare allowance from my department.
I hope that this answers the Deputy’s question.