Richard Bruton
Question:36. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Social Protection to consider the opportunity for more flexible financial supports for family carers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37635/24]
View answerTuesday, 24 September 2024
Questions (36)
Written answers
The Government acknowledges the valuable 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 key role of my department is to provide income supports where an income need may arise due to unemployment, illness/disability and caring responsibilities. The payments provided are an income support to people who cannot earn, or can only earn a limited income, and who have no other means or resources to rely upon.The main income supports to carers provided by my department include Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance, and the Carer's Support Grant. Spending on these payments in 2024 is expected to exceed €1.7 billion. The Carer’s Allowance scheme is the main scheme by which the Department provides income support to carers in the community. Carer’s Allowance is a financial support to people who cannot earn, or can only earn a limited income, due to their caring responsibilities. In 2024 the expenditure on the Carer’s Allowance scheme is estimated to be over €1.1 billion and there are currently 97,407 people receiving this payment.Since my appointment as Minister for Social Protection, I have made a number of changes to the Carer's Allowance payment, in particular the means test.
• In June 2022, the income disregards were increased from €332.50 to €350 for a single person, and from €665 to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner. The capital and savings disregard for the Carer’s Allowance means assessment was also increased from €20,000 to €50,000.
• In June 2024, the weekly income disregard was further increased from €350 to €450 for a single person, and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse/partner.
Since 2022, this amounts to cumulative increases to the income disregards of €117.50 for a single carer and €235.00 for a carer who is part of couple. These are the highest disregards in the Social Welfare system.Carer's Benefit is a non-means tested payment made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce, or reduce their working hours, to care for someone in need of full-time care and attention. A person may be eligible for Carer's Benefit if they have sufficient PRSI contributions. Projected expenditure on Carer’s Benefit in 2024 is estimated at €57.9 million.While the family carer support payments provided are premised on the provision of full-time care and attention by the carer, they do provide flexibility in terms of allowing carers to engage in training, education or work up to 18.5 hours per week. This was increased from 15 hours as part of Budget 2020 in response to requests from carer's organisations and carers themselves who found the 15 hours too restrictive. In effect, a Carer can engage in these activities for half of a full-time working week. During this time, adequate provision must be made for the care of the relevant person. Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly allowance payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability that requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the level of care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of that disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of care and attention for a least 12 consecutive months. This level of care and attention must be required to allow the child deal with the activities of daily living.Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance is not based entirely on the child's disability or diagnosis but primarily on the impact of the disability in terms of the associated level of care and attention required by the relevant child compared to a child of the same age without their disability.At the end of August, some 55,995 customers were in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance in respect of 63,042 children. Expenditure in 2024 is estimated at over €290 million.In order to acknowledge and address the financial burden families of sick children face, the Government has made significant changes to the Domiciliary Care Allowance payment in recent years.The period during which Domiciliary Care Allowance can be paid for children in hospital was extended from 3 months to 6 months.
• Domiciliary Care Allowance has also been made available for babies who remain in an acute hospital after birth for a period of 6 months.
During both of these extended periods of eligibility and where other conditions are met, a carer may also receive Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit and the Carer's Support Grant.In 2021, I increased the annual Carer’s Support Grant to €1,850, the highest rate since its introduction. The Carer's Support Grant is automatically paid to people in receipt of Carer's Allowance, Carer’s Benefit and Domiciliary Care allowance. Other carers who are not in receipt of a carer’s payment may also be eligible for the Grant. On 6 June, 132,523 carers received the grant in respect of 149,361 care recipients, at an estimated cost of €275 million.In addition, I have taken a range of actions to improve supports for carers over recent years through increasing payment rates and income disregards and providing once-off and extra double payments. I have also delivered on the Programme for Government commitment to provide a pension solution for carers. In January 2024, a new Long-Term Carers Contribution scheme was introduced. Under the scheme, a person who has been a full-time carer for an incapacitated dependent for at least 20 years (1,040 weeks), can get Long-Term Carers Contributions to cover gaps in their contribution record which can help them qualify for the State Pension (Contributory). We know this reform is a great comfort and relief to the many carers across the country who have spent their lives caring for loved ones. At the end of August, over 5,381 people had been awarded long-term carers contributions since the scheme was opened. 532 of these customers have been awarded State Pension (Contributory) while a further 148 received an increase in the rate paid. Officials in my Department continue to review state pension (contributory) applications where a reduced rate is in payment, or the person was refused a pension prior to January 2024.I am satisfied that there are already a range of flexible financial supports in place for family carers and that I have made some significant improvements across these payments which have served not only to benefit existing recipients but have also increased access to these payments.I will continue to keep the range of income supports provided to family carers by my department under review. However, any further changes, or the provision of additional supports, would have to be considered in an overall budgetary and policy context.I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.