Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of a review of carer’s payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26263/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The main income supports provided by my Department include Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance, and the Carer's Support Grant.  Over 135,000 carers benefit from regular income supports and spending on these payments in 2021 is expected to be in the region of €1.5 billion.  The value of income transfers to family carers has increased by over 50% since 2015.

Carer's Allowance acts as an income support for those who cannot earn adequate income in the open labour market due to their caring responsibilities.  This allowance is part of the system of social assistance supports that provide payments based on an income need.  The means test plays a critical role in determining whether or not an income need arises as a consequence of a particular contingency – such as disability, unemployment or caring.  This ensures that the recipient has a verifiable income need and that resources are targeted to those who need them most. 

A comprehensive Policy Review of Carer’s Allowance, including an examination of the means test, was prepared by my Department and was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas at the end of August 2019.  In addition, in August 2019, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published a Spending Review of Carer’s Supports, including Carer's Allowance.  Among its key findings was that of the €1.04bn spent on Carer’s Support Programmes in 2018, Carer’s Allowance accounted for 77% of total support spend on carers.  Given how little time has elapsed since these two in-depth reports on carer’s schemes were published, I do not propose to conduct another report on the area at this time.

The means test for Carer's Allowance is one of the most generous in the social welfare system, most notably with regard to spouse’s earnings.  The amount of weekly earnings disregarded is €332.50 per week for a single person and €665 per week for a couple.  By comparison, the income disregard applied to Disability Allowance is €120 per week.  As per Budget 2021 this will increase to €140 per week from June 2021.  For Jobseeker's Allowance, it is €20 per day up to a maximum of €60, and the balance is assessed at 60%.  For Jobseeker's Transitional Payment, the weekly income disregard is €165 with 50% of the balance assessed as means.

Changes to schemes are considered in an overall expenditure and policy context and from an evidence-based perspective.  Those existing carers whose sole income is the Carer’s Allowance would not benefit.  An increase in the means disregard would benefit just 3% of carers and benefit better-off families.  Increases to the disregard would result in the provision of additional payments to people who may have significant sources of income while reducing the scope to provide income supports to lower income households.

Carer's Benefit is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce to care for someone in need of full-time care and attention.  A person may be eligible for Carer's Benefit if they have enough PRSI contributions.  Carer’s Benefit is payable for a maximum period of 104 weeks for each person being cared for.  It can be taken in one block or in separate periods as long as the combined total does not exceed 104 weeks. 

From an evidence based perspective it should be noted that not all those claiming Carer’s Benefit opt to remain in payment for the full 104 weeks.  My Department has examined this matter and found that the average duration on Carer’s Benefit was 76.5 weeks between 2018 and 2020.  Therefore, the current 104-week payment duration represents a reasonable length of time to support a carer’s temporary absence from work.  Where care is provided beyond the period of entitlement to Carer’s Benefit, the means tested Carer’s Allowance is available for those who are in need of income support.  These arrangements ensure an efficient use of public funds while assisting those who are in most need of an income support.

Furthermore, the right to carer's leave from employment complements the Carer's Benefit Scheme.  The Carer's Leave Act 2001 allows employees to leave their employment temporarily to provide full-time care for someone in need of full-time care and attention.  A person is entitled to take carer’s leave of at least 13 weeks up to a maximum of 104 weeks.  Carer's leave from employment is unpaid but the Carer’s Leave Act ensures that people who want to take carer's leave will have their jobs kept open for them while they are on carer's leave.

I can assure the Deputy that I am very much aware of the key role that family carers play in our society and I will continue to keep the range of supports available to carers under review.  However, any improvements or additions to these supports can only be considered in an overall budgetary context and in the light of available financial resources. 

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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99. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the extension of the hot school meals programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26254/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefitting 230,000 children.  The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them.  The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.

As part of Budget 2019, funding was provided for a pilot scheme from September 2019, providing hot school meals in primary schools at a cost of €1m for 2019 and €2.5m in 2020.  The pilot involved 37 schools benefitting 6,744 students for the 2019/2020 academic year and was aimed primarily at schools with no onsite cooking facilities. 

In Budget 2021, I announced that an additional €5.5m would be provided to extend the provision of hot school meals to an additional 35,000 primary school children, currently receiving the cold lunch option.  Officials from the department issued invitations for expressions of interest to the 705 primary schools (612 DEIS and 93 non-DEIS) in November 2020.  A total of 281 (256 DEIS and 25 non-DEIS) expressions of interest were received in respect of 52,148 children.

The 35,000 places were allocated to each local authority area based on the number of children applied by local authority as a percentage of the total number.  A minimum of one School for each Local Authority area was selected.  Thereafter, a process of random selection was used for each area.

As a result of this process, 189 of the 281 schools that submitted an expression of interest were selected.  Of the 189 schools selected, 171 (90.5%) are DEIS and 18 (9.5%) are non-DEIS.

Officials from my Department have contacted all schools selected for the Hot Meals Scheme and are  working with the schools to introduce the hot school meals. 

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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100. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if greater flexibility will be shown to persons on jobseeker’s allowance and other social welfare payments to help them return to education given the criteria for access to the back to education allowance for recipients of the pandemic unemployment payment regarding the qualifying social welfare payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26218/21]

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the details of educational and upskilling courses available under the back to education payment; the measures that are being taken to expand on courses available under this payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26223/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 107 together.

The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) provides income support for jobseekers and others in receipt of certain social welfare payments who pursue courses of education at second or third level, for undergraduate courses.  In limited cases, post-graduate courses can be supported via BTEA.

For example, BTEA can be approved where the jobseeker intends to undertake studies leading to a Higher Diploma (H.Dip) in any discipline, the Professional Masters in Education or a Masters degree based solely on life experience where the applicant holds no other third level qualification.

My Department has a provision of €96.5m for the BTEA for 2021.

A person wishing to pursue a course of study under the BTEA scheme has to satisfy a number of conditions, including being in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full-time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education.

The course will be discussed with the Department's Case Officer following a review of the jobseeker’s skills, qualifications and experience with a focus on identifying potential employment opportunities.

The qualifying period for the second-level option is three months while the qualifying period for third-level courses is nine months prior to the date of commencement of the course.  This qualifying period has been waived for people coming from the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).  A PUP recipient is required to transfer to a Jobseeker's scheme in order to avail of this longer term support. 

Any person planning to undertake an education course should engage with their local Intreo Centre to assess the options available to them.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.