Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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45. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection for an update on the work her Department has undertaken to improve access to the carer’s allowance. [37633/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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.

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. It is important to note that this equates to €100,000 in the case of a couple.

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.

Since June 2022, this amounts to cumulative increases to the income disregards of €117.50 for a single carer and €235.00 for a carer who is part of couple. These are the highest weekly disregards in the Social Welfare system.

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.

Any further changes or improvements to the carer payments provided by my department, including the Carer’s Allowance payment, would need to be considered in an overall budgetary and policy context.

I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.