Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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153. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on extending eligibility for carer’s benefit to include persons who are self-employed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35315/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Carer's Benefit payment is an entitlement based on social insurance contributions. Carer’s Benefit is a payment made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care and attention. A person may be eligible for Carer's Benefit if they have enough PRSI contributions. It is payable for a period of 2 years (104 weeks) for each care recipient and may be claimed over separate periods up to a total of 2 years (104 weeks). As of May 2021 there were 3,646 recipients of Carer's Benefit. Estimated expenditure in 2021 is in excess of €47 million.

Under the provisions of the legislation, to be eligible to claim Carer's Benefit, a claimant must have paid PRSI contributions in Classes A, B, C, D, E or H. Self-employed workers who pay social insurance contributions at the Class S rate of 4% are not eligible for Carer’s Benefit.

To claim, the carer must have 156 PRSI contributions paid since entry into insurance and either 39 contributions paid in the relevant tax year or 39 contributions paid in the 12 months immediately before the commencement of the Carer’s Benefit claim or 26 contributions paid in the relevant tax year and 26 contributions paid in the previous relevant tax year.

Where a person does not have the necessary social insurance record, for example where they are self-employed, they can claim for Carer's Allowance, and the first €332.20 of weekly income for a single person, or €665 for a couple is disregarded in the means test. Those who are self-employed can also apply for the Carer’s Support Grant – which was increased by €150 as part of Budget Measures 2021. Self-employed carers can now work up to 18.5 hours per week, this was increased from 15 hours to 18.5 hours in January 2020.

There has been an extensive expansion of access to the range of social insurance benefits to self-employed social insurance contributors in recent years without any increase in the 4 percent rate of contribution made by them. Self-employed contributors are now covered for most of the benefits available under the social insurance scheme which represents approximately 93 percent of the value of all benefits paid by the Social Insurance Fund.

Any proposal to further extend social insurance entitlements to self-employed contributors would have to be considered in a budgetary context, taking account of the current economic circumstances and with a view to the sustainability of the Social Insurance Fund.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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154. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on extending eligibility for domiciliary care allowance to children residing in hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35311/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a payment made in respect of a child with a severe disability who requires additional care and attention. It is payable to the person providing for the child's care while they are resident with that person for at least 5 days each week.

DCA can be paid, for a period not exceeding 13 weeks in any 12 months, if the child is admitted to hospital on a full-time basis for medical or other treatment.

If a child is resident in an institution (including a hospital) for part of each week, DCA can be paid at 50% of the normal rate if the child resides with the qualified person between 2 and 4 days each week.

Any amendment to the qualifying conditions of the scheme would have cost implications and could only be considered in a wider Budgetary context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.