Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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469. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will support the request of an organisation (details supplied) to make the carer's allowance a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance;; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29207/24]

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, at an estimated cost of €382 million in 2024. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per household.

While Carer's Allowance is not a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance, a person in receipt of Carer's Allowance may avail of the Fuel Allowance payment in certain circumstances. Fuel Allowance is a household-based payment, and a carer will very often live with and care for a person in receipt of a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance. Income from Carer's Allowance is disregarded from the fuel means test if the carer is providing full time care and attention to the Fuel Allowance applicant, his/her qualified spouse/civil partner or cohabitant or qualified child(ren).

If a person is getting certain qualifying social welfare payments and also providing full time care and attention to another person, they can keep their main social protection payment in addition to receiving the half-rate Carer's Allowance. They can also receive an extra half-rate Carer’s Allowance if they care for more than one person. Since January 2023, the amount of half-rate Carer’s Allowance received is now disregarded when assessing means for Fuel Allowance purposes.

Any further widening of the qualifying criteria for accessing the fuel allowance scheme can only be considered while taking account of the overall policy and budgetary situation.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.