Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Social Protection, further to Parliamentary Question No. 43 of 26 May 2011, if she will give consideration to allowing persons on the 15-hour care payment to obtain positions on schemes, be they community employment or training courses, to obtain or upgrade their skills in order to improve their opportunities of employment without interfering with their entitlements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13968/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Carer's allowance is a means tested income support payment for people who are providing full time care and attention to a person in need of such care. A person in receipt of carer's allowance can engage in employment, self-employment, training or education outside the home for up to 15 hours per week and still qualify for the payment.

A qualifying condition for the payment of carer's allowance is that the person receiving care is medically assessed as needing care on a full-time basis. While carers may work or engage in training or education for up to fifteen hours per week, I have no plans for a further increase in the hours beyond this allowance. Any further expansion would necessarily dilute the very notion of 'full time care and attention' and could directly impact on the person who needs that care.

When a person's caring responsibilities cease, they may transfer to another payment such as jobseeker's allowance and have their time spent in receipt of carer's allowance counted towards the community employment qualifying period.