Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

The programme for Government, as the Deputy knows, commits to increasing the carer’s allowance disregard, with a view to phasing it out over the lifetime of the Government, which is another four years. Removing the means test is a significant shift in policy direction and, therefore, this is a prudent and sustainable approach for us to take.

I announced further improvements in budget 2026 to the carer’s allowance means test. They will be introduced in July 2026. For carers who work, the weekly income disregard will increase by 60% from €625 to €1,000 for a single person and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers who are part of couple. This means, for example, that a carer in a two-adult household with an income of approximately €110,000 will still retain their full carer’s payment. Even those with an income of €138,000 will gain a partial payment.

There have been a number of changes to the scheme in recent years that have resulted in significant growth. The number of carers on the scheme has increased by 65% in the past ten years and the expenditure on the scheme has doubled to over €1.2 billion. The scheme is demand-led and it is also likely that many people who are currently outside the means threshold may not have previously applied for the carer’s allowance. On that basis, it is difficult to estimate potential inflow from this measure. I assure Deputy O’Reilly and other Deputies that the number of payments being made under the scheme is not budget capped. We are looking at a range of figures, including census figures and other declarations as to who is a carer, to monitor the potential inflow into the scheme. We will consistently publish data on take-up in quarterly statistical releases.

As in previous years, when there has been an increase to the disregard, if people are on a reduced rate of carer's allowance due to their means, they are due an increase in their weekly payment. Their rate of payment will be automatically increased.

The change of the disregard will come into effect in July 2026. This gives my Department ample time to raise awareness of the changes and give the kind of detail ahead of the changes the Deputy is looking for.

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