My Department provides a range of income supports for full-time carers including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined spending on all these payments to carers in 2022 is estimated to exceed €1.5 billion.
Eligibility for Carer’s Allowance is not contingent on a particular disability or illness or the severity of disability or incapacity of the person being cared for but acts as an income support for those carers who cannot earn an adequate income in the open labour market due to their caring responsibilities. This allowance is part of the system of social assistance supports that provide payments based on an income need. The means test plays a critical role in determining whether or not an income need arises as a consequence of a particular contingency – such as disability, unemployment or caring. This ensures that the recipient has a verifiable income need and that resources are targeted to those who need them most. It is also important to note that, just as in the case of disability and job seeking payments, the allowance is not intended to be a compensatory payment for the full value of earnings foregone and nor is it a payment by the State in recognition of services rendered.
Removal of the means assessment for Carer’s Allowance would not only change the nature of the scheme from a targeted income maintenance support for those most in need and providing full-time care, and it would, in effect, create a new universal social protection scheme. This would give rise to a very significant annual cost. Based on the number of carers identified in Census 2016, it is estimated that a universal carer’s payment could cost in the order of an additional €1.2 billion per annum. This would result in the provision of payments to people who may have significant sources of income while reducing the scope to fund other critical schemes and services.
The income disregard and means test for Carer’s Allowance is the most generous within the social welfare system. Since my appointment as Minister for Social Protection, supporting carers has been a key priority for me.
In this year’s Budget, I made significant changes to the Carer’s Allowance means test which took effect at the beginning of June:
- The capital/savings disregard for the Carer’s Allowance means assessment has been increased from €20,000 to €50,000, aligning it with that which applies for Disability Allowance.
- For carers who work, I have increased the weekly income disregard from €332.50 to €350 for a single person, and from €665 to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner.
These are the first changes that have been made to the Carer’s Allowance means test in 14 years.
A more generous means assessment for Carer’s Allowance had been called for over successive Budgets by organisations representing carers. An increase in the general weekly income disregard will enable more carers with modest incomes to become eligible for Carer’s Allowance, and therefore provide an income support to carers, whose earning capacity is significantly constrained as a consequence of their caring responsibilities.
Increasing the capital disregard will allow carers who have accumulated relatively modest savings, often to provide sufficient moneys to care for a loved one, to retain these savings without it impacting upon their carer’s payment. It also brings the capital formula applied to savings in the means assessment for Carer’s Allowance in line with Disability Allowance.
It should be noted that both the monthly Domiciliary Care Allowance and the annual Carer’s Support Grant are available to family carers providing full-time care and assistance regardless of means. As part of Budget 2021, I increased the Carer’s Support Grant from €1,700 to €1,850. On Thursday 2 June the grant was paid to some 121,000 carers and their families. The overall cost of the grant in 2022 is expected to be over €241 million.
I can assure the Deputy that I am keenly aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face. I will continue to keep the range of income supports provided to family carers under review. However, any improvements or additions to the current supports provided by my Department – such as introducing further changes to the means testing for Carer’s Allowance - would have implications for overall spending and could only be addressed in an overall budgetary and policy context.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
