Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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172. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the domiciliary care allowance from €309.50 to €330 per week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32485/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The estimated full year cost of increasing the Domiciliary Care Allowance to €330 per month is €11.4 million.

The cost shown above is based on the estimated number of recipients in 2021. This costing is subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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173. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of expanding the free travel scheme to include persons in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32486/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private transport operators. There are currently approximately 999,000 customers with direct eligibility. The 2021 funding allocation for the free travel scheme is €95 million.

Providing an accurate projection of the cost of extending the free travel scheme to all children in respect of whom a domiciliary care allowance is being paid is very difficult as the cost is determined by the usage of the extra passes provided and not by the number of newly qualified people. The fact that many operators have reduced fares for children and that in some cases children under five years of age can travel for free would also have to be taken into account. Taking all of this into consideration, I am advised that the yearly cost of the measure suggested by the Deputy could be as high as an estimated €6.1 million.

Any decision to extend the free travel scheme to all children in respect of whom a domiciliary care allowance is being paid would require additional funding for the free travel scheme and would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

Domiciliary care allowance is a monthly payment of €309.50 to the carer of a child with a disability. The allowance may be used for the additional costs involved in caring for the child and this may include additional transport costs.

Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme (SWA) the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection may award a travel supplement in any case where the circumstances of the case so warrant. The supplement is intended to assist with ongoing or recurring travel costs that cannot be met from the person's own resources and are deemed to be necessary. Every decision is based on consideration of the circumstances of the case, taking account of the nature and extent of the need and of the resources of the person concerned.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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174. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the annual carer's support grant from €1,850 to €2,000; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32487/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The estimated full year cost of increasing the Carer's Support Grant by €150 is €21.5m.

This cost is based on the estimated number of recipients in 2021 and is subject to change in light of emerging trends and subsequent revision of the estimated number of recipients.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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175. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of making the carer's allowance a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32488/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a household based payment of €28.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €784 each year), paid from October to April, to 370,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only one allowance is paid per household.

My Department also pays an electricity or gas allowance under the Household Benefits scheme at an estimated cost of €195 million in 2021. This is paid at a rate of €35 per month, 12 months of the year.

Taking account the fact that the fuel allowance is a household based payment and that qualification is not just based on receipt of a qualifying payment but on a number of other complex qualifying criteria such as household composition, providing an accurate projection of the cost by my Department is not possible.

The Government values the role of carers very much and it is for this reason that they receive significant income supports from the Department. In addition to the Carer’s Benefit and Carer's Allowance schemes, carers receive further support in the form of free travel and household benefits (for those who live with the person for whom they care) and the annual Carer's Support Grant in respect of each person for whom they care. In Budget 2021 I was delighted to announce an increase to the Carer's Support Grant by €150 to €1,850. This will benefit over 130,000 carers. Carers in receipt of an increase for a qualified child on their claim also benefit from the Budget 2021 increase to the qualified child rate, by €5 in the case of a child aged 12 or over and by €2 for a child aged up to 12.

Fuel Allowance is a household-based payment, and a Carer will very often live with and be caring for a person in receipt of a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance. Income from full rate Carer's Allowance is disregarded from the fuel means test if the carer is providing full time care and attention to the Fuel Allowance applicant, his/her qualified spouse / civil partner or cohabitant or qualified child(ren).

If a person is getting certain qualifying social welfare payments and also providing full time care and attention to another person, s/he can keep his/her main social protection payment in addition to receiving the half-rate Carer's Allowance. S/he can also receive an extra half-rate Carer’s Allowance if s/he cares for more than one person. It should also be noted that the payment of half-rate Carer’s Allowance does not preclude a person from qualifying for Fuel Allowance. If a person is in receipt of a non-contributory social welfare payment and a half-rate Carer’s Allowance, then s/he is deemed to have satisfied the means test and Fuel Allowance is payable, subject to all remaining criteria being satisfied. If a person is in receipt of a contributory social welfare payment and a half-rate Carer’s Allowance then s/he will have to satisfy a means test in order to qualify for Fuel Allowance.

The maximum rates of Carer's Allowance for those aged under 66, at €219 (€257 for carers aged 66 or over) where one person is being cared for, and €328.50 (€385.50 for carers aged 66 or over) where there are two or more carees, is significantly higher than that for most schemes administered by my Department.

The means test for Carer's allowance has been significantly eased over the years and is now one of the most generous means tests in the social welfare system, most notably with regard to spouse’s earnings. At present the means test for Carer’s Allowance allows for an income disregard of €332.50 per week for a single person and €665 for a couple. In the case of a single carer, that person may retain a full-rate payment of €219.00 while having an annual income of just under €19,000, or retain a payment of €109.00 per week (just under half rate) while having an annual income of €25,400, or retain the minimum payment of €4 per week while having an annual income of €31,100.

Carers can also engage in employment, self-employment, training or education courses outside the home for not more than 18.5 hours a week.

Any decision to amend the criteria for receiving Fuel Allowance, to include Carer’s Allowance as a qualifying payment, would have to be considered in the overall policy and budgetary context.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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176. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the income disregard for carer's allowance from €332.50 to €350 per week for a single person and to €700 for a couple; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32489/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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 Government and the National Carers’ Strategy.

The main income supports to carers provided by my Department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined spending on these payments to carers in 2021 is expected to exceed €1.4 billion.

As of May, there were 89,523 recipients of Carer's Allowance. The estimated expenditure for the payment in 2021 is in the region of €953 million.

The means test for Carer’s Allowance is one of the most generous in the social protection system. Currently, €332.50 of gross weekly income is disregarded in the calculation of means for a single person; the equivalent for someone who is married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting is €665 of combined gross weekly income.

By comparison, the income disregard applied to Disability Allowance is €140 per week. 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.

The ESRI SWITCH microsimulation model is used for the purposes of estimates such as the one requested. The estimated gross expenditure is an additional €1.16m annually. However, it should be noted that is not possible to estimate the increase in the number of persons entitled to the Carer’s Allowance if the means test thresholds were increased. This is primarily because it is not known how many people there are caring and working that are currently over the income limit but who could apply for/become eligible for Carer's Allowance if the income limits were higher. SWITCH cannot model behavioural responses in such cases.

SWITCH showed no distribution/poverty affects arising from the increase suggested by the Deputy. It is important to note that based on the Department's own analysis of the Carer's Allowance, some 92% of the current recipients of Carer’s Allowance have no means or means of less than €7.60 per week and would not benefit by an increase in the disregard. Carers who would benefit from an increased disregard would be in higher income households.

Any changes to the means test must be considered in an overall budgetary context.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.