Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1369.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost in 2025 to provide a cost-of-disability payment of €20 per week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32724/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. These include contributory payments, based on PRSI contributions, such as Illness Benefit and Invalidity Pension, and non-contributory payments, based on a means test, such as Disability Allowance and Blind Pension.

At an estimate, a cost-of-disability payment of €20 per week for every person currently on Invalidity Pension, Disability Allowance and Blind Pension would cost an additional €230.5 million each year. There are currently over 220,000 people on these three main disability payments, with combined spending in 2024 expected to be almost €3 billion.

At an estimate, a universal cost-of-disability payment of €20 per week for every person with a disability would cost an additional €1.1 billion per year. This is based on there being roughly 1.1m people reporting in the 2022 Census that they experienced at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent.

The Indecon Cost of Disability report highlighted that there is not a single typical ‘cost of disability’. Rather, there is a spectrum from low additional costs to high extra costs of disability, depending on the individual circumstances of the person concerned. It also highlighted that the cost of disability is significantly broader than the income support system and includes housing, transport, education, and health. The report therefore suggested the issue needs a whole-of-government response.

The report did not propose a Cost of Disability payment. The report concluded that disability payments should be targeted to those most in need and who face the greatest additional cost of disability rather than spreading resources thinly.

I am committed to improving outcomes for people with a disability. I announced a suite of measures to support disabled people in Budget 2024, including:

• €400 once-off payment for Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Invalidity Pension and Carer’s Support Grant recipients in November 2023 to address the high cost of living.
• €200 lump sum Living Alone Allowance payment.
• €300 lump sum Fuel Allowance payment.
• Christmas Bonus double payment to all persons getting a long-term disability payment.
• January Cost of Living Bonus double payment to all persons getting a long-term disability payment.
• €12 increase in the maximum personal rate of weekly disability payments from January 2024.
• Reduce the minimum weekly hours threshold for employers to avail of the Wage Subsidy Scheme from 21 to 15 hours from April 2024.
• Extension of Free Travel to people medically certified as unfit to drive.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1370.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the projected cost in 2025 of increasing the disability allowance income disregard to €205; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32725/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a suite of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes.

The primary disability related social assistance scheme is Disability Allowance, which is a means-tested payment for people with a specified disability who are aged between 16 and 66. In addition to the means test, in order to be eligible, the disability must be expected to last for at least one year. The allowance is also subject to a medical assessment and a habitual residency requirement.

The primary social assistance scheme for people who are blind or visually impaired is the Blind Pension, which is a means-tested payment and the only income support payment designed to cater for a specific disability, paid to people aged 18 to 66 years. Eligibility for Blind Pension requires that a person’s vision is impaired to such an extent that they cannot perform any work for which eyesight is essential or cannot continue in their ordinary occupation.

Recipients of both Disability Allowance and Blind Pension can take up employment and may continue to receive their income support. Recipients can work while in receipt of their payment, but income is assessable as means. The first €165 of weekly earnings and 50% of earnings between €165 and €375 from employment or self-employment are disregarded in any means test. However, any earnings in excess of this amount must be assessed as income and entitlement to the disability payment reduced accordingly.

Persons can currently earn up to €165 per week and keep their payment in full and can earn up to €505.10 per week and keep a small portion of their payment and keep their secondary benefits.

As of June 2024, there were almost 17,360 recipients of Disability Allowance and Blind Pension who were in employment. The estimated, conservative cost of increasing the income disregard to €205 per week would amount to over €18 million.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1371.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the projected cost in 2025 of increasing the carer’s support grant to €2,000 or €2,500; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32726/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The estimated cost of increasing the Carer's Support Grant to €2,000 annually is €23.6 million.

The estimated cost of increasing the Carer's Support Grant to €2,500 annually is €102.1 million.

It should be noted that these costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1372.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the projected cost in 2025 of increasing the income disregard for carer’s allowance to €625 (single) and €1,250 (couple); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32727/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The estimated full year cost to increase the income disregard for Carer's Allowances to €625 for a single person and €1,250 per couple is €23.6 million, based on the number of recipients this year. This does not take into account any potential customer behavioural changes.

This costing is based on the estimated average number of recipients in 2024, and is subject to change in light of emerging trends and subsequent revision of the estimated number of recipients.

Any changes to the means test for Carer's Allowance would need to be considered in an overall budgetary context.