Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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563. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she has considered providing flexibility in relation to means testing thresholds for carer’s Allowance or for providing additional financial supports for carers of children with profound or long-term disabilities given that there are many cases of parents requiring life-long supports to provide care for their children in these circumstances regardless of income; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23327/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a range of income supports for full-time carers including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined spending on all these payments to carers in 2022 is estimated to exceed €1.5 billion.

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.

While the caring requirements of carees may be different, this does not affect the rates of the allowance, which is intended to provide an income support for the carer and does not depend on individual care requirements.

The Deputy will be aware that payments made by my Department are set out in legislation. There is no provision to provide flexibility in relation to means testing thresholds for Carer’s Allowance as outlined by the Deputy.

The current income disregard and means test for Carer’s Allowance is the most generous within the social welfare system. The amount of weekly earnings disregarded is €332.50 for a single person and €665 for a couple. From June the weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance will increase to €350 a week for single carers and to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner.

In acknowledgement of the crucial role that family carers play in our society I introduced a number of measures as part of Budget 2022 in relation to supports provided by my Department. These include the following changes to the carer means test which will take effect in June:

- An increase in the weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance to €350 a week for single carers and to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner,

- An increase in the Capital/Savings disregard for Carer’s Allowance from €20,000 to €50,000.

A more generous means assessment for Carer’s Allowance has been called for over successive Budgets by organisations representing carers. An increase in the general weekly income disregard will enable more carers with modest incomes to become eligible for Carer’s Allowance, and therefore provide an income support to carers, whose earning capacity is significantly constrained as a consequence of their caring responsibilities.

Increasing the capital disregard will allow carers who have accumulated relatively modest savings, often to provide sufficient moneys to care for a loved one, to retain these savings without it impacting upon their carer’s payment. It also brings the capital formula applied to savings in the means assessment for Carer’s Allowance in line with Disability Allowance.

My Department already provides a non means-tested payment specifically for carers of incapacitated children in the form of the Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA). This is a monthly payment for a child aged under 16 with a severe disability, who requires ongoing care and attention, substantially over and above the care and attention usually required by a child of the same age. The payment is not based on the type of disability but on the resulting physical or mental impairment which means that the child requires substantially more care and attention than another child of the same age. Since 1 June 2017, all children getting DCA are eligible for a medical card without a means test.

In addition, the annual Carer’s Support Grant is available to all family carers providing full time care and assistance regardless of means. As part of Budget 2021, I increased the Grant from its then current rate of €1,700 to €1,850, effective from June 2021. The estimated expenditure on the Carer’s Support Grant this year is €262.4 million.

I can assure the Deputy that I am keenly aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face. I will continue to keep the range of income supports provided to family carers under review. However, any improvements or additions to the current supports provided by my Department – such as introducing further changes to the means testing of Carer’s Allowance or additional payment supports - would have implications for overall spending and could only be addressed in an overall budgetary and policy context.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.