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Carer's Allowance

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Questions (34)

Denis Naughten

Question:

34. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will review the means threshold for the carer's allowance scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25005/20]

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Oral answers (8 contributions)

This question also relates to carers. The income disregard for the carer's allowance was consistently increased during the 2000s and there was a policy decision to try to make as many people eligible as possible. However, in the last 12 years that income disregard has not been altered whatsoever. The failure to expand the disregard means that families on the average industrial income are now precluded from accessing carer's allowance.

I thank the Deputy for raising this specific issue which also relates to carers. As the Deputy knows, carer's allowance is a means-tested payment for carers who, on a full-time basis, look after certain people in need of full-time care and attention, where the carer's income falls below certain limits. At the end of August 2020, there were 87,733 people in receipt of carer's allowance and the projected expenditure is approximately €919 million.

The means test for carer's allowance is probably the most generous in the social welfare system, most notably with regard to earnings disregards. The amount of weekly earnings disregarded is €332.50 for a single person and €665 for a couple. A couple earning up to €37,500 per year can qualify for the maximum rate and a couple earning €49,750 can, due to the tapered withdrawal approach, retain a payment of just under half-rate. A single person may keep a full-rate payment while having an annual income of just under €19,000 and keep a payment of just under half-rate while having an annual income of €25,400. The means test conditionality for carer's allowance is consistent with the overall rules that apply to social assistance payments. The system of social assistance supports provides payments based on an income need, with the means test playing the critical role in determining whether or not an income need arises as a consequence of a particular contingency, be that illness, disability, unemployment or caring.

The application of a means test not only ensures that the recipient has an income need but also that scarce resources are targeted to those with the greatest need. Any changes to the means threshold for carer's allowance would have implications for overall spending and would need to be addressed in a budgetary context.

I am not comfortable with the phrase the Minister used about this being the most generous income disregard. It is but there is good reason for that. The reality is that every person, particularly an older person, who is kept out of a nursing home saves the taxpayer between €600 and €800 every week. If it is a child or adult with a profound disability, the savings are multiples of that on a weekly basis. If the income disregard was increased in line with the increases in the minimum wage between 2008 and today the income disregard for a single person would be €388 and the income disregard for a couple would be €776.50. Even keeping in line with the minimum wage this is falling well short of where it should be.

I thank the Deputy. I understand the point he is making. This is part of a wider debate that crosses into health policy. He will understand that the key role of my Department is income support. We are charged with identifying where a person has an income support need and providing that support in the form, for instance, of a jobseeker's payment, a disability allowance or a carer's allowance. I agree we need to look at the wider picture. There are opportunities for people who could remain at home but the question is whether a carer's job is a full-time job. If so, it has to be rewarded as such. What I am providing is an income support. This is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed by the Department of Health.

I fully accept that the focus of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection is on income support. The reality is that carer's allowance was never designed solely as an income support because of the income disregard that was introduced and the need to try to support as many older people as possible to remain in their own homes and, of course, to support younger people with disabilities.

The Minister also has responsibility for rural and community affairs. A broader view needs to be taken of this throughout Government. The onus is on the Government as a whole to examine this rather than just kicking the can into the Minister's Department, which is the easy and soft option. We need movement on the income that carers receive for the work they do. Since 2009, the carer's allowance has decreased. If we look at it compared to the minimum wage, the rate of carer's allowance today should be €257.50 just to keep in line with the rate of increase of the minimum wage. This really needs to be examined in the context of the budget.

I am not taking away from the wonderful work that carers do throughout the country. They do the State a great service through what they do for people who need this support and assistance, whether elderly people or people with disabilities. They provide a vital service. The Deputy has hit the nail on the head as to whether it is about an income and paying somebody for a job they do or income support. I congratulate the Deputy, who is now the Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands.

The Minister will be sick listening to me.

I will be happy to engage with him through the committee. It is not confined to one Department. There is a bigger conversation to be had and it is important that we have it.

Question No. 35 replied to with Written Answers.
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