Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A comprehensive policy review of carer's allowance, including the means test, was prepared by my Department and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 28 August 2019. I am happy to provide a copy of that. In addition, on 15 August last year, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published a spending review of carer support. Among its key findings was that the carer's allowance accounted for 77% of total carer support spend.

Given how little time has elapsed between the publication of these two in-depth reports on carer schemes, there is little benefit in doing another report. However, as said earlier, I think we need a wider conversation about the important role carers play in our society and I suggest, as I did earlier, that the Committee on Health and the Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands engage on this.

The two principal conditions for receipt of carer's allowance are that full-time care and attention is required and provided and that the means test which applies is satisfied. If somebody was an employee and leaves work to become a carer, carer's benefit may be the appropriate payment for him or her.

The means test for carer's allowance is one of the most generous in the social welfare system, in that €332 of gross weekly income is disregarded in the calculation of means for a single person. The equivalent for someone who is married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting is €665 of combined gross weekly income. This means a couple with two children can earn in the region of €37,500 per annum and qualify for the maximum rate of carer's allowance. A couple earning €49,750 can, due to the tapered withdrawal approach, retain a payment of just under half rate as well as getting the full carer's support grant every June. Carers may also, subject to certain conditions, qualify for the household benefits package and a free travel pass. A half rate carer's allowance is also payable with other welfare payments, such as pensions and disability payments. The application of a means test not only ensures that the recipient has an income need, but also that scarce resources are targeted to those with the greatest need.

I assure the Deputies that the Government is very aware of the key role carers play in society and will continue to keep the range of supports available to carers. I can update the figures in the existing report. I am happy to do that and provide that to the Deputies. As I said earlier, the role of the Department of Social Protection is to provide a basic income. It is not its role to pay people for the important job they do. That involves the Department of Health and I believe that Department has a responsibility. As the Deputies know, the Department of Health has responsibility for the national carers' strategy. There needs to be a joined-up approach and my Department preparing another report will not in itself solve the genuine concerns Deputies have. The Department of Health has a role to play in this. I am happy to engage with the Deputies on this matter through the committee.

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