Carer's Allowance is the main income support scheme provided by my department for family carers in the community. It is an income support payment for carers and not a payment for caring. It currently supports over 103,000 carers at an estimated cost in 2026 of over €1.4 billion.
Weekly social welfare payments are intended to address an income need that arises due to a specified contingency that eliminates or significantly restricts a person’s ability to earn an income from employment.
Given that payments are based on a loss of the opportunity to earn an income, it is not the case that experiencing more than one contingency contemporaneously, each of which significantly limits the person’s ability to work, increases that opportunity or income loss, or justifies a double payment to compensate for that loss. Generally, people who are eligible for two social welfare payments at the same time receive the higher payment for which they are eligible – they do not receive both payments simultaneously.
However, as an exception to this rule, and in recognition of the important role of caring, where a person is on a full-time social welfare payment, such as the State Pension and also caring for 35 hours or more per week, in addition to their primary payment, they can also receive a payment equivalent to up to half the Carer’s Allowance rate. This arrangement applies to almost all weekly social welfare payments, including those with increases for a qualified adult.
A person on Carer’s Allowance who qualifies for the full State Pension can, on reaching age 66 in 2025, move from a weekly Carer’s Allowance payment of €260 to a combined pension and carer payment of €438.30 per week.
So, there is no reduction in a person’s payment on moving on to State Pension, rather the person receives an increase with the combined payments.
In addition, such carers also benefit from the annual Carer’s Support Grant, which reached its highest level to date at €2,000 in June.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
