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

The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending in 2023 is expected to amount to almost €1.6 billion on these payments.

The two principal conditions for receipt of Carer’s Allowance are that full time care and attention is required and provided, and that a means test is satisfied. The application of the means-test is a statutory requirement. It not only ensures that the recipient has an income need but also that scarce resources are targeted to those with the greatest need. The payment is made in recognition of the fact that these carers are unable to earn a sufficient income due to their caring commitments.

As part of Budget 2022, I introduced measures which allowed carers to have a higher weekly household income and a higher level of savings, and still qualify for a Carer's Allowance payment. These were the first changes to the means test in 14 years.

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.

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

These are the highest income disregards in the social welfare system and mean, in the case of a couple, that earnings of up to €39,000 per annum are disregarded.

Removing the means test for Carer’s Allowance in its entirety would create a new universal social protection scheme for those meeting the scheme’s basic caring condition. Carer's Allowance does not purport to be a payment for care and I do not intend to deviate from the underpinning principle of Carer’s Allowance being an income support payment.

In addition to Carer's Allowance, my department also provides a non-means tested payment to those carers who have to leave the workforce or reduce their hours in the form of Carer’s Benefit. For those providing ongoing care and attention for a child aged under 16 with a severe disability, Domiciliary Care Allowance is available and is also not means-tested.

Furthermore, the annual Carer's Support Grant - which I increased to its highest-ever rate of €1,850 - is also available to carers who are not on a social welfare payment. The grant is paid in a single lump sum annually, usually on the first Thursday in June. The grant is not means-tested and is not taxable and is paid in respect of each care recipient.

Notwithstanding the increased level of support already in place for carers, I have asked my department to keep the current carer supports under review as part of the annual budgetary process.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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390. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will indicate the waiting period of claims before social welfare recipients become eligible for back to education, work placement programmes, community employment, training support grant and JobsPlus; and if she has considered the change in these waiting periods or their standardisation. [42135/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department provides a range of supports to assist individuals to return to employment. The supports referred to by the Deputy are interventions designed to address differing requirements at various times during a persons transition to employment, taking into account a number of factors including duration of unemployment. It would not be appropriate to set standard waiting periods. A short narrative of the various supports and qualifying timeline is set out as follows:

Back to Education Allowanceprovides income support for jobseekers and others in receipt of certain social welfare payments who pursue courses of education at further or higher level. Applicants for the Back to Education Allowance scheme must satisfy certain conditions including being in receipt of a qualifying payment for a specified time, which is 3 months for further education courses and 9 months for higher education courses.

Work Placement Experience Programmeis a work experience programme that aims to provide jobseekers who have never had a job or who have lost employment with an opportunity to gain meaningful work experience. The programme assists participants with relevant work and personal development skills in a supportive environment while on a work placement, with a view to increasing their employment prospects. Jobseekers can qualify if they have been unemployed and in receipt of a qualifying social welfare for 6 months. Other social welfare recipients such as those in receipt of One Parent Family Payment or Disability payments can qualify without waiting days where conditions of their scheme are met.

Community Employment (CE) Schemeis designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis. To participate on CE a person must generally be in receipt of a qualifying payment for 12 months or more with some exceptions.

Training Support Grantprovides quick access to short-term training to support jobseekers access work opportunities. The grant is used to meet a skills gap or training need where this cannot be provided by a state provider within a reasonable time, and in cases where an intervention is needed to access a work opportunity. To be eligible for the Training Support Grant a customer must be in receipt of a qualifying payment and meet the conditions of the scheme. There is no waiting period.

JobsPlusis an incentive designed to encourage employers and businesses to focus their recruitment efforts on those who have been out of work for long periods and on young people seeking employment. It provides employers with two levels of payment: €7,500 or €10,000 over two years, with the level of payment depending on the age of the jobseeker and their circumstances.

Applicants aged under 30 are eligible once they have been in receipt of a qualifying payment for 4 months in the previous 6 months. For applicants aged over 30 the qualifying period is 12 months. There is no qualifying period for persons with Refugee status or for recipients of the Jobseekers Transition payment. The JobsPlus scheme was expanded from January 2023 to provide the higher level of grants to employers who employ people from certain disadvantaged and minority groups who have been in receipt of a qualifying payment for 4 months in the previous 6 months.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.