Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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925.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she has plans to reintroduce the household benefits package for carers, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, while carrying out invaluable work; if there are also plans to scrap means testing for those applying for carers allowance; if there are any further supports planned for those engaged in this important work; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[34097/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Household Benefits Package comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. The Department of Social Protection will spend approximately €294 million this year on the Household Benefits Package for over 523,000 customers.

People over the age of 70 receive the Household Benefits Package, with one package provided per household. The package is also available to people living in the State aged 66-69 years who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments or who satisfy a means test. The package is available to some people under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments.

Any decision to extend the qualifying conditions for the Household Benefits package to include those who are in receipt of Carers Allowance, and who don’t live with the caree, would have to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context.

The Carer’s Allowance is the main scheme by which the Department provides income support to carers in the community. In 2024 the expenditure on the Carer’s Allowance scheme is estimated to be over €1.1 billion.

Eligibility for Carer’s Allowance involves satisfying a means test. Means tests are an essential component of our social welfare system - they help to direct scarce resources to where they are needed most.

Removal of the means assessment for Carer’s Allowance as suggested would not only change the nature of the scheme from a targeted income maintenance support for those most in need and providing full-time care it would, in effect, create a new universal social protection scheme. This would give rise to a very significant annual cost and such a payment would result in people who would have higher sources of income benefitting while reducing the scope for the Department to provide income supports to lower income households, such as people with disabilities, lone parents, and older people.

Since my appointment as Minister, I have made a number of significant improvements to the means test for Carer's Allowance.

• Budget 2022 saw the first changes to the means test in 14 years when the income disregards were 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 also increased from €20,000 to €50,000.
• As part of Budget 2024, and with effect from June this year, the weekly income disregards were further increased from €350 to €450 for a single person, and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse/partner.

These recent changes to the means test have enabled more carers on a reduced rate to move to a higher payment. Additionally, many carers who previously did not qualify for a payment due to their means have been brought into the Carer's Allowance system for the first time.

That said, as part of Budget 2024, I announced my intention to establish an Interdepartmental Working Group with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine and review the system of means test for carers payments. This work is ongoing, and I have asked this Group to report to me on the matter by Quarter 3 of this year.

It is important to acknowledge that there are a range of other supports for carers provided by the Department which are not based on a means assessment, such as the Carer’s Support Grant, Carer’s Benefit and Domiciliary Care Allowance.

• The Carer’s Support Grant is a payment for all carers, even those not in receipt of Carer’s Allowance. It can be claimed by carers regardless of their means or social insurance contributions. The grant can be used by carers in a manner which they see fit. It is paid in respect of each care recipient. I increased this grant as part of Budget 2021 to €1,850, its highest ever rate. Over 132,000 carers received the grant on Thursday 6 June at a cost of €275 million.
• Carer's Benefit is based on social insurance contributions. It is a very effective payment made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person in need of full-time care. It is payable for a period of up to 2 years for each care recipient and is estimated to cost almost €58 million in 2024.
• Domiciliary Care Allowance is payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the care and attention usually required by a child of the same age. As part of Budget 2024 we have increased the payment by another €10 bringing it to €340 per month. This monthly payment has increased cumulatively by €30.50 under this Government. Expenditure in 2024 is estimated to be almost €274 million.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.