John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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571. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing the hours carers can study or work while in receipt of social welfare from 15 to 20 hours per week. [14032/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Entitlement to a Carer's Allowance means that a person must be living with, or in a position to provide full-time care and attention to a person in need of care who does not normally live in an institution and not be engaged in employment, self-employment, training or education courses outside the home for more than 15 hours a week. During such an absence, adequate care for the person requiring full-time care and attention must be arranged. Similar conditions apply in the case of Carer’s Benefit.

Carer's benefit and carer's allowance are demand-led schemes and increasing the number of hours a carer can work from 15 hours to 20 hours per week, while continuing to be regarded as providing full-time care and attention, would be expected to increase the demand for these payments and lead to additional programme costs.

It is not feasible, based on the information currently available to my Department, to provide a reliable estimate of the additional numbers of workers and students that would qualify for carer’s income supports consequent on such an increase particularly when account is taken of the fact that changing such conditions might themselves have an impact on decisions at individual household level.

My Department will consider how best it could improve the robustness and reliability of estimates around such change as part of the overall budgetary process.

I hope that this answers the Deputy’s question.