I propose to take Questions Nos. 373 to 375, inclusive, together.
The key role of the Department of Social Protection is that of income support. The Department is charged with identifying where a person has an income support need and providing that income support, for example in the form for instance of a jobseeker’s payment, a disability allowance, or a carer's allowance.
The main income supports to carers provided by the Department of Social Protection are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending in 2022 is expected to amount to over €1.5 billion.
- Carer’s Allowance is a means-tested payment for people living in Ireland who are looking after someone who needs support because of age, physical or learning disability or illness, including mental illness. Carer’s Allowance is primarily aimed at carers on low incomes who live with and look after certain people who need full-time care and attention. As of July there were 91,093 recipients of Carer’s Allowance.
There are other income supports available for carers provided by the Department of Social Protection that are not means-tested; these include:
- The Carers Benefit payment is an entitlement based on social insurance contributions. Carer’s Benefit is a payment made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care. It is payable for a period of 2 years (104 weeks) for each care recipient and may be claimed over separate periods up to a total of 2 years (104 weeks). As of July there were 3,346 recipients of Carer's Benefit.
- The annual Carer’s Support Grant is available to all carers providing full-time care to an older person or a person with a disability, regardless of their means or social insurance contributions. The objective of the Carer’s Support Grant is to support carers in their caring role and carers may use the grant in a manner that is appropriate to their needs. The grant is paid in respect of each person being cared for to take account of the additional cost of providing care and to recognise the particular challenges faced by these carers. As part of Budget Measures 2021, the rate of the grant was increased by €150. The new rate of €1,850 came into effect from June 2021. The Carer's Support Grant is automatically paid to people in receipt of Carer's Allowance, Carer’s Benefit and Domiciliary Care allowance in June of each year. At the end of June some 121,551 grants were issued in respect of 136,054 care recipients.
- Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly payment for a child aged under 16 with a severe disability, who requires ongoing care and attention, substantially over and above the care and attention usually required by a child of the same age. It is not means tested. The Domiciliary Care Allowance rate is €309.50 per month. There is no restriction on the number of children in respect of whom Domiciliary Care Allowance may be claimed. In other words, a person caring for more than one child who qualifies for Domiciliary Care Allowance may claim the monthly allowance for each child. As of July there were 48,430 families in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance in respect of some 54,126 children.
As part of Budget 2022, the Government introduced a range of measures benefitting family carers directly, including:
- a €5 increase in the maximum rate of all core weekly payments including carers;
- a €3 increase for qualified child dependants aged 12 and over and €2 for those up to age 12, in all core weekly payments;
- an increase in the capital disregard for carers from €20,000 to €50,000;
- the weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance has increased to €350 per week for single carers, and to €750 per week for a couple.
In addition, as part of Budget 2022, the Government doubled the period of time for which Domiciliary Care Allowance and Carer’s Allowance are paid for children who are hospitalised. These supports now continue to be paid for 26 weeks, as opposed to the previous 13-week period, to the parents or guardians of children under 16.
Apart from the income supports mentioned above, this Department also provides a support under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme. Under this scheme, the Department may make an additional needs payment to meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the person's own resources and are deemed to be necessary. Payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme, considering all the circumstances of the case. This ensures that the payments target those most in need of assistance. The payment is available to anyone who needs it and qualifies, whether the person is currently on a social welfare payment or working on a low income. Any person who considers they may have an entitlement to an additional needs payment is encouraged to contact their local community welfare service. There is a National Community Welfare Contact Centre in place - 0818-607080 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office.
Finally, it is not possible to provide the estimated annual cost of providing a weekly payment of €230 in the circumstances outlined by the Deputy. The Department of Social Protection has no basis for collecting data on how many children require/or would require a hospital stay.
This matter may be more relevant to my colleague the Minister for Health. Similar schemes are available in the UK and are available through the NHS; for example, people in the UK on a low income, may be able to get help with NHS costs, such as claims for help with travel costs if they are the parent or guardian of a child under the age of 16, through the NHS Low Income Scheme (LIS).
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
