Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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77. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will outline the various supports for carers in Budget 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58868/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As part of Budget 2023, I announced a number of measures in relation to supports provided by my department for carers. These measures acknowledge the important role that family carers play in our society and the particular challenges they face in light of the current cost of living crisis.

The measures benefiting family carers directly include:

- €500 Cost of Living lump sum payment which was paid to over 114,576 carers last week or as part of a disability payment the previous week to some additional 7,512 carers.

- Cost of Living Double Payment to carers paid in October.

- Carers will also receive the Christmas Bonus Double Payment in week commencing 5 December.

- €12 increase in the maximum rate of Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Benefit with effect from January 2023, with proportionate increases for people receiving a reduced rate.

- The Half-rate Carer’s Allowance will be disregarded in the means assessment for Fuel Allowance with effect from January 2023.

- Domiciliary Care Allowance will increase by €20.50 to €330 per month with effect from January 2023. These measures build on the significant improvements to the means test for Carer's Allowance which I announced in Budget 2022, in recognition of the vital role that carers play in society. These were the first changes to the means test in 14 years:

- The capital and savings disregard for the Carer’s Allowance means assessment was increased from €20,000 to €50,000, aligning it with that which applies for Disability Allowance.

- For carers who work, the weekly income disregard was increased from €332.50 to €350 for a single person, and from €665 to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner.

These changes came into effect on 2 June this year and many carers who up to now did not qualify for a payment due to means will now be brought into the Carer's Allowance system for the first time.