Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to review the means testing of carer’s allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14824/22]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister knows, carer's allowance is means tested for people living in the State providing care and attention to a child or adult with such a disability that he or she requires full-time care as a result. I know the Government's budget 2022 introduced new measures that will take effect in June. Family Carers Ireland estimates that only one in five of Ireland's 375,000 carers receive care allowance due to the strict eligibility criteria attached to the payment. We do not acknowledge how families are really giving the State a dig-out. There are so many issues in that regard.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The main income supports to carers provided by my Department include carer's allowance, carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance and the carer's support grant. Spending on these payments in 2022 is expected to exceed €1.5 billion.

The current income disregard and means test for carer’s allowance is the most generous within the social welfare system. The amount of weekly earnings disregarded is €332.50 for a single person and €665 for a couple. In acknowledgement of the important role that family carers play in our society, I introduced a number of measures as part of budget 2022 in relation to supports provided by my Department. These include the following changes to the carer's allowance means test, which will take effect in June of this year. There will be an increase in the weekly income disregard for carer’s allowance to €350 per week for single carers and €750 for carers with a spouse or partner, and an in increase in the capital savings disregard for carer’s allowance from €20,000 to €50,000. The Deputy's colleague, Deputy Ó Cuív, is a wizard on these things. It was something he raised with me, in fairness to him.

A more generous means assessment for carer’s allowance has been called for over successive budgets by organisations representing carers. This increases the general weekly income disregard and will enable more carers with modest incomes to become eligible for carer’s allowance and, therefore, provide an income support to carers whose earning capacity is significantly constrained as a consequence of their caring responsibilities. Increasing the capital disregard will allow carers who have accumulated relatively modest savings, often to provide sufficient moneys to care for a loved one, to retain these savings without it impacting upon their carer’s payment.

It also brings the capital formula applied to savings in the means assessment for carer’s allowance in line with disability allowance. Notwithstanding the increased level of support that in place for carers, I have asked my Department to keep these measures under review as part of the annual budgetary process. We are currently doing a review of recipients of carer’s allowance so that they can immediately benefit from the changes that we will bring in in June. There are thousands of carers on the reduced rate and they will get an increase because of those changes. We are doing the review and it is important that we review all of these schemes during the year.