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

I do not propose to accept the amendment. The carer's allowance is a qualifying payment for access to both the back to education allowance and the back to work enterprise allowance. The back to education allowance is a second-chance educational opportunity scheme. It supports certain social welfare recipients to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held. Participants must continue to maintain eligibility to an underlying social welfare payment for the duration of the allowance. The person being cared for must transfer to a different carer for the period of the back to education allowance claim as the premise of carer’s allowance is providing full-time care and attention.

If a carer wishes to become self-employed, he or she may be eligible for the back to work enterprise allowance. The back to work enterprise allowance scheme is designed to provide a monetary incentive for people in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment to develop a business while allowing them to retain a reducing proportion of their payment over two years with no restriction on the number of hours worked. A person retains 100% of their payment in year 1 and 75% in year 2.

Furthermore, Intreo employment services are available to any person looking for employment support or advice on a voluntary walk-in basis. Of course, carers can work or study 18.5 hours per week and still retain the carer’s allowance.