Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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241. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on a matter (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36831/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government acknowledges the crucial 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.

My Department provides a comprehensive package of income supports for carers including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined spending on these payments to carers in 2022 is estimated to exceed €1.5 billion.

Carer’s Allowance is a means-tested social assistance payment awarded to those carers who are caring for certain people whose needs are such that they require full-time care and attention. The projected expenditure on Carer’s Allowance in 2022 is approximately €990 million.

There are a number of basic principles which underpin the social welfare system, one of which is the general principle of one person, one payment, which applies across the social welfare system. Generally, people qualifying for two social welfare payments receive the higher payment for which they are eligible.

There are a limited number of exceptions to the general principle of one person, one payment. In 2007, a new Half-rate Carer’s Allowance was introduced for certain people with another social welfare entitlement. This had been a particular concern to people in receipt of a social welfare payment when they became carers. The issue was highlighted by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs in its Report on the Positions of Full-time Carers (2003). In order to address these concerns, reforms in this area were provided for in Budget 2007. Under the new arrangements, people in receipt of certain social welfare payments other than Carer’s Allowance or Benefit who are providing full-time care and attention can retain their main payment and receive another payment, depending on their means, the maximum of which is equivalent to a half-rate Carer’s Allowance. Therefore, a person who may have an underlying entitlement to another social welfare payment - such as the State Pension - can transfer to that payment and continue to receive up to a half-rate Carer’s Allowance. These arrangements apply to almost all weekly social welfare payments and to people in receipt of an increase for a qualified adult. Recipients of Jobseeker’s Allowance or Benefit are not eligible given the jobseeking nature of these payments.

In addition, the annual Carer’s Support Grant is available to family carers providing full-time care and assistance regardless of means. This is not available for any other group. Despite the extra financial demands due to the Covid-19 crisis, in Budget 2021, I increased the Carer’s Support Grant by €150 to its current rate of €1,850. This is the highest rate since its introduction. The estimated spend on this grant in 2022 is over €262 million.

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 for carers. These include the following changes to the Carer's Allowance means test which took effect last month:

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

- An increase in the weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance from €332.50 to €350 a week for single carers and from €665 to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner.

In addition, I announced the following changes also benefitting carers which came into effect in January:

- €5 increase in maximum rate of all core weekly payments, including carers.

- €3 increase for qualified child dependants aged 12 and over and €2 for those up to age 12, in all core weekly payments.

- Domiciliary Care Allowance is now paid for children who go into hospital for up to 6 months (formerly 3 months). The payment of Carer’s Allowance where applicable, also continues to be paid in respect of children who go into hospital for 6 months.

I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to keep the range of income supports provided to family carers by this Department under review and will ensure that consultations with carers' representative groups continue so that the overall objectives of the carer income support schemes provided are met. However, to pay full-rate Carer's Allowance along with another social welfare payment, as proposed, would involve significant additional expenditure and could only be considered in an overall Budgetary context.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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242. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide an update on a query (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36832/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, which is supporting over 370,000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million. 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.

My Department also pays an electricity or gas allowance under the Household Benefits scheme at an estimated cost of €203 million in 2022. This is paid at a rate of €35 per month, 12 months of the year.

The criteria for fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. Therefore, to receive the fuel allowance a person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment from my Department and also have satisfied a means test.

Any decision to remove the means test qualifying criteria for fuel allowance for those who are in receipt of the State Pension Contributory would have to be considered in the context of overall budgetary negotiations.

As part of the overall welfare budget package of €600m in increases I secured for 2022, I was pleased to be able to increase the Fuel Allowance payment by €5 per week effective from Budget night and to increase the weekly income threshold for Fuel Allowance by €20. In addition, further lump sum payments of €125 and €100 were made in March and May of this year respectively to Fuel Allowance recipients. These measures are better targeted at those most at risk of fuel poverty.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, a heating supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances that have special heating needs. If a recipient of a social protection or HSE payment has exceptional heating costs due to ill health, infirmity or a medical condition which he/she is unable to meet out of household income, that person may apply for a heating supplement. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment. Heating supplements are payable at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.

Under the SWA scheme, Additional Needs Payments may also be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost, which customers are unable to meet out of their own resources, and this may include exceptional heating costs. Decisions on such payments are made on a case-by-case basis.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.