Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
923. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection if, in line with Action 65 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, she has plans to increase the income disregard for disability allowance and carer’s allowance to account for the high costs of disability; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57312/23]
View answerDisability Allowance is a payment for people who are aged between 16 and 66 with an injury, disease or disability that has continued, or may be expected to continue, for at least one year and, as a result of this disability, the person is substantially restricted in undertaking work that would otherwise be suitable. The allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a habitual residency requirement.
From January 2024, the maximum personal rate of payment is €232.00 with the maximum adult dependent rate at €154.00. Rates for child dependents are €46.00 for children under 12 and €54.00 for children over 12.
There are over 161,400 recipients of Disability Allowance as of October 2023 and the total estimated expenditure on the scheme for 2024 is over €2.1 billion.
Disability Allowance is structured to support recipients to avail of work opportunities, be that self-employment or insurable employment.
When an individual commences employment, they can avail of an income disregard of €165 per week. In addition, 50% of earnings between €165 and €375 are also disregarded for the purpose of the means test.
The earnings disregard for recipients of Disability Allowance has increased by almost 38% over the last four budgets from €120 to €140 to €165 currently. This enables them to earn more without having a negative impact on their means tested payment. A person can now earn a maximum of €495.10 per week and still keep a portion of their Disability Allowance payment.
Carer’s Allowance is the main scheme by which my department provides income support to carers in the community. Some 95,848 people are supported by this payment. Estimated expenditure on this scheme in 2024 is €1.1 billion.
The primary objective of the payment is to provide an income support to carers whose earning capacity is substantially reduced as a consequence of their caring responsibilities and in so doing to support the ongoing care of the person in respect of whom care is being provided.
As part of Budget 2022 I increased the income disregards from €332.50 to €350 for a single person, and from €665 to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner.
In June 2024, the weekly income disregard will be further increased from €350 to €450 for a single person, and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse/partner.
This amounts to cumulative increases to the disregards of €117.50 for a single carer and €235.00 for a carer who is part of couple, during my time as Minister for Social Protection. These are the highest income disregards in the social welfare system. It is also worth noting that the capital and savings disregard for the Carer’s Allowance means assessment was also increased in 2022 from €20,000 to €50,000.
Since my appointment as Minister, I have made a number of significant improvements to the social welfare system to enhance the supports available for our carers and for disabled people. Any further changes to the income disregards would have cost implications and therefore could only be considered in an overall Budgetary and policy context.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
