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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 50 together. Since my appointment as Minister, I have made significant improvements to the means test for carer's allowance. 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. It is important to acknowledge that there are a range of other supports for carers provided by the Department of Social Protection which are not based on a means assessment, such as the carer’s support grant, carer’s benefit and domiciliary care allowance.

In budget 2022, the income disregards were increased to €350 for a single person and to €750 for carers with a spouse or partner. The capital and savings disregard was also increased, from €20,000 to €50,000. This equates to €100,000 in the case of a couple. As part of budget 2024, the weekly income disregards were further increased, from €350 to €450 for a single person and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse or partner. These are the highest disregards in the social welfare system. Notwithstanding these improvements, I have established an interdepartmental working group with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine and review the system of means test for carer's payments. The work of the group is ongoing and I expect it to report to me in the coming weeks.

The removal of the means assessment for carer’s allowance would not only change the nature of the scheme as an income support, it would also have significant policy and budgetary implications and would reduce the scope for the Department to provide income supports to lower-income households. Removing the means test for carer’s allowance in its entirety would create a new universal social protection scheme for those meeting the scheme’s basic caring condition. It is estimated that it would give rise to additional costs of some €600 million, rising to between €880 million and €2 billion per annum in total.

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