Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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513. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will reform the means test for carer's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38466/19]

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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514. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will increase the income disregard for carer's allowance from €332.50 to €450 for a single person and from €665 to €900 for a couple; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38467/19]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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532. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to revise the means test for carer's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38827/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 513, 514 and 532 together.

The Government acknowledges the important role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for a Partnership Government and the National Carers’ Strategy.

My Department provides a range of supports to those who are caring for family members, friends or neighbours. These measures aim to recognise the needs of carers through the provision of appropriate income supports, to enable carers to remain in touch with the labour market to the greatest extent possible and to empower carers to participate fully in economic and social life. These income supports include the following:

- Carer’s Allowance

- Carer’s Benefit

- Carer’s Support Grant

- Domiciliary Care Allowance

Spending on these payments in 2019 is expected to exceed €1.2 billion.

Carers may also (subject to certain conditions) qualify for the Household Benefits Package and a Free Travel Pass.

I am advised that it is not possible to make a robust estimate of the costs requested on the level of additional programme costs using available administrative data, particularly as such a change would be highly sensitive to the income distribution in households at the time of implementation. However, analysis based on the SWITCH model (Simulating Welfare and Income Tax Changes) predicted that an increase in the disregard of €117.50 (single) and €235.00 (couple) per week could cost in the region of €73 million, which, when income tax and Working Family Payment offsets are taken into account, produces an estimated net expenditure of €55 million.

Any changes to qualifying criteria for these schemes, including income disregards, would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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515. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the formula for assessing means from capital savings, shares and property for carer's allowance can be increased in line with the disability allowance in which the first €50,000 of capital is disregarded. [38468/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department operates a range of means-tested social assistance payments. Social welfare legislation provides that the means test takes account of the income and assets of the person (and spouse/partner, if applicable) applying for the relevant scheme. Income and assets include income from employment, self-employment, occupational pensions, maintenance payments as well as property owned (other than the family home) and capital such as savings, shares and other investments.

In this regard, for most social assistance schemes, the first €20,000 of capital is fully disregarded; the next €10,000 assessed at €1 per thousand, the next €10,000 is assessed at €2 per thousand, with the remainder assessed at €4 per thousand.

The assessment of capital reflects the fact that there is an expectation that people with reasonable amounts of capital and property are in a position to use that capital or to realise the value of property to support themselves without having to rely solely on a means tested welfare payment.

In relation to carer's allowance, as the first €332.50 of gross weekly income for single people and the first €665 for couples is disregarded, as well as a general disregard of €7.60 per week, 92% of the approximately 81,000 carer's allowance recipients have their means assessed as zero and less than one per cent would be impacted by raising the capital disregard from €20,000 to €50,000. The estimated cost of this increase is approximately €2.5 million in 2020.

Any proposals to change the capital means assessment for means-tested social assistance schemes would have to be considered in the overall budgetary context.