Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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473. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason a person (details supplied) who has a claim for arrears of carers allowance has been refused as this person is only working 16 hours and the extra hours of income was holiday pay he was owed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49463/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Carer’s benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care and attention.

A person can be considered to be providing full-time care and attention where they are engaged in employment, self-employment or on training courses for a maximum of 18.5 hours per week provided that the income from these activities is not more than €350.00 per week.

An application for CARB was received from the person concerned on the 29 June 2022 with confirmation from the employer that carer’s leave had been granted from 1 July 2022 to 26 June 2024 and that the person concerned would work and be paid for just 16 hours per week during this period.

Subsequently, the employer commenced paying the person concerned for annual leave in addition to the time worked.

The Carer's Leave Act (section 13(4) of Part 3) provides that an absence from employment while on carer’s leave shall not be treated as part of any other leave from the employment. This includes annual leave to which the employee concerned is entitled.

The Organisation of Working Time Act (section 19(5) provides that time taken on annual leave is contracted work time.

As a result, both the hours of employment and the employment income arising in this case were in excess of the prescribed conditions for Carer's Benefit for certain periods between 1 July 2022 to 18 September 2022.

On 19 Sept 2022, an updated letter from the employer of the person concerned was received. This confirmed that the person concerned would be on carer’s leave from 19 Sept 2022 where they would work a maximum of 16 hours per week and no further additional annual leave would be paid for the duration of their carer’s leave. Based on this new information, the CARB application was awarded from 22 Sept 2022 in line with the relevant legislation.

The person concerned was notified in writing of the details of this decision on 19 Sept 2022 and of their right of review and appeal to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office.

If seeking a review or appeal of the above decision, the person concerned should forward any new or additional information, or further documentary evidence for consideration.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.