Thomas Gould
Question:65. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to financially recognise the efforts of those in receipt of the carer’s allowance during the Covid-19 pandemic. [14838/22]
View answerTuesday, 22 March 2022
Questions (65)
Written answers
My Department provides a comprehensive package of carer's income supports including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. At the end of January, there were 90,934 people in receipt of Carer's Allowance. The estimated expenditure on Carer’s Allowance in 2022 is approximately €990 million. Combined spending on all these payments to carers in 2022 is estimated to exceed €1.5 billion.
In so far as my role as Minister for Social Protection is concerned, I have done my utmost to support the invaluable role played by carers in our society. Despite the extra financial demands due to the Covid-19 crisis, I increased the Carer’s Support Grant by €150 to a rate of €1,850. This is the highest rate since its introduction.
In Budget 2022, I introduced a range of measures benefitting family carers directly, including:
- €5 increase in maximum rate of all core weekly payments, with effect from January,
- €3 increase for qualified child dependants aged 12 and over and €2 for those up to age 12, in all core weekly payments,
- €5 increase in the Fuel Allowance from €28 to €33 per week, from 12 October 2021,
- An increase in the weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance to €350 a week for single carers and to €750 for carers with a spouse or partner,
- An increase in the Capital/Savings disregard for Carer’s Allowance from €20,000 to €50,000. This will bring the capital means test in line with that of Disability Allowance.
- Domiciliary Care Allowance will be paid for children who go into hospital for up to 6 months (currently 3 months). Carer’s Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant will also continue to be paid in respect of children who go into hospital for 6 months.
- I can assure the Deputy that I am very aware of the key role carers play in our society and of the particular challenges they faced in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. However any further improvements to the Carer's Allowance payment can only be made in an overall Budgetary and policy context.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.