Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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653. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost of removing the 18.5-hour ceiling rule for the carer’s allowance for those who wish to undertake training or education and whose child is in school for more than 18.5-hours. [39265/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides a comprehensive package of carers’ income supports including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined expenditure on these schemes in 2025 is expected to exceed €1.9 billion.

Carer’s Allowance is a means tested social assistance income support paid to carers who are caring for certain people who require full-time care and attention. The means test ensures that support is targeted to those most in need. There are currently 100,853 recipients of Carer’s Allowance.

A primary qualifying condition for the carer income supports provided, is that the applicant must be providing full-time care and attention to a person who is so incapacitated as to require such care for a period likely to last at least 12 months. The carer must provide a minimum of 35 hours of care per week.

While carer support payments are based on the provision of full-time care and attention by the carer, they also allow for flexibility. Carers may engage in work, training or education up to 18.5 hours per week. During this time, adequate provision must be made for the care of the relevant person.

Both the full-time care and attention requirement and the 18.5-hour limitation are contained in the respective legislative provisions of the Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit and Carer’s Support Grant schemes.

The main cost elements of a proposal to remove the threshold would arise from new claimants who are currently ineligible because of the 18.5 hours condition. However, the Department does not hold data on the number of individuals engaged in work, education or training, and who have with school-age children, who might become eligible for the payment if the threshold were removed. As such, it is not possible to provide a reliable cost estimate for the proposal.

The 18.5-hour limitation represents a reasonable balance between meeting the requirement for providing full-time care for the care recipient and the needs of the carer to engage in education, training or employment, supporting a carer’s continued attachment to the workforce and broader social inclusion. In effect, a carer can engage in these activities for half of a full-time working week.

Finally, any proposals for changes to this condition would need to maintain this balance and would have to be considered in a policy and budgetary context.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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654. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost of removing the weekly earnings limit for the carer’s benefit. [39266/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Carer’s Benefit is a payment available to insured people who may need to leave work or reduce their hours to care for a person or people in need of full-time care. It can be paid for a period of two years (104 weeks) for each person being cared for and may be claimed over separate periods up to a total of two years (104 weeks).

Carer’s Benefit is a payment available to insured people who may need to leave work or reduce their hours to care for a person or people in need of full-time care. It can be paid for a period of two years (104 weeks) for each person being cared for and may be claimed over separate periods up to a total of two years (104 weeks).

Carer’s Benefit was introduced as the social insurance equivalent of the means-tested Carer’s Allowance. It shares the same main qualifying conditions, including the requirement to provide full-time care and attention, and the maximum limit of 18.5 hours per week for engagement in employment, education, or training.

As part of Budget 2025, on 3 July the weekly earnings threshold for Carer's Benefit increased from €450 to €625 for a single person. This aligns with the Carer’s Allowance single income disregard, which is €625 per week.

It is not possible to provide the cost of removing the weekly earnings limit for Carer’s Benefit. It is unknown to the Department how many people in the population could potentially qualify for the payment if the earnings limit were removed and also satisfy the conditions of the scheme, including the appropriate PRSI contributions and the provision of full-time care and attention.

I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.