Ms Clare Duffy:

I thank the Senator for his questions. I will start with the refusal rate. There has always been a problem with social welfare refusal rates in general. Regarding carer's allowance, however, I will speak honestly and say that in the cases I have dealt with, and I have been dealing with these cases for the last 13 years, what is most needed is good information at the beginning. I refer to carers coming to us before they send in their applications. We can advise and help them with those applications. Applicants are often misinformed and in many of the cases I have dealt with, one of the most common reasons for refusal concerns applicants not providing enough information. I say that quite honestly.

Regarding the reasons for refusals, I most often come across two things, namely, medical need, where the person is not considered sufficiently incapacitated to need full-time care, and the second aspect is the provision of full-time care. To qualify for carer's allowance, it is necessary for the applicant to be providing at least 35 hours of care each week. Those are the two major things we encounter. Again, however, I reiterate that people will greatly increase their chances if they get the right advice at the beginning and fill out the application forms well. I think sometimes there is a misunderstanding about the carer's allowance, and we must remember that it is not awarded because people are caring, but because they are caring full-time. That is a significant body of work. When we are supporting carers in receipt of the carer's allowance, we are not talking about light caring responsibilities. We are, instead, talking about very high-level care.

Turning to the means test, I could not agree with the Senator more. It is incredibly frustrating that the income disregard for carer's allowance has not budged for 13 years. There also does not seem to be any appetite to increase it. In our pre-budget submissions, we have included a proposal to increase the rate from €665 to €900 for a couple, but we actually just want to see the Department begin to increase it and to show an appetite and recognition in that regard. There was a commitment in the Towards 2016 social partnership agreement that the rate of the carer's allowance would keep pace with average industrial earnings. It has not, and it has not even come close to it. The other really interesting thing about carer's allowance, which people might not realise, is that the maximum rate of carer's allowance in 2021 is less than it was in 2009. It is €150 less. We have never recovered from austerity. Therefore, so much is connected with the means test.

The other figure that is interesting for people to know is that in order to qualify as a household for full-rate carer's allowance it is necessary to have a total gross household income of less than €37,500. That is for a two-person household. From €37,500 to €62,000, then, the rate of carer's allowance is tapered. The Senator is absolutely right on this point. When a household income of €62,000 is reached, the carer's allowance is €5 per week. That is all. People will also be getting the carer's support grant and the things that come with it, but that is all. However, to me, those are not wealthy households. They are also often households where either the mother or father has had to give up work in order to provide care. Those households have much higher expenditure because they have additional costs. I had one lady who did not get the carer's allowance because her husband earned €64,000. She had three children with profound disabilities. They had just paid €4,500 to get in a stairlift for their 18-year-old son. That family got nothing because the father was on the extortionate rate of pay of €64,000 gross. Something must be done. If I could leave one thing for this committee to consider in its future work, it would be that point. This issue cannot fall on deaf ears any longer. Something must be done with the income disregard. In addition, as Deputy Ó Cuív said, something must also be done with the capital disregard, because it has not budged in the 13 years I have been knocking around this sector. It has not moved nor is there any appetite to move it.