Holly Cairns
Ceist:119. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Social Protection the steps she is taking to support family carers. [32539/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 6 July 2023
Ceisteanna (119)
Freagraí scríofa
The Government acknowledges the important role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy.The main income supports for carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending in 2023 is expected to amount to almost €1.6 billion on these payments. Since my appointment as Minister, I have made a number of significant improvements to the supports available for our carers, including increasing the Carer’s Support Grant to €1,850, its highest ever rate.In Budget 2022, I announced significant improvements to the means test for Carer's Allowance.
• The capital and savings disregard for the means assessment for Carer’s Allowance was increased from €20,000 to €50,000.
• For carers who are working, I increased the weekly income disregard to €350 for a single person, and to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner.
These are the highest income disregards in the social welfare system. In Budget 2023, I announced a range of measures for carers, particularly in light of the current cost of living crisis, including a double payment for carers paid in October 2022 and a €500 payment for people receiving Carer’s Support Grant paid in November 2022. A further Cost-of-Living lump sum payment of €200 was paid in April to carers.In acknowledging the role that family carers play in society and supporting carers in that role the Government has also committed to provide a pension solution for carers. We will do this by attributing social welfare contributions to long-term carers to cover gaps in their contribution record and by establishing a register of family carers for this purpose.Department officials are currently working to implement the reforms, including drafting legislation and developing administrative and IT systems for implementation by January 2024.Furthermore, I have committed to a carrying out a broad review of means testing this year, which will include the Carer's Allowance means test provisions. I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to support carers and meet regularly with them and their representative groups myself, so that I can hear directly from them about their issues. I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.