Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)
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118. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will review the policy whereby a person in receipt of the State pension is only entitled to half-rate carer’s allowance, even when continuing to provide full-time care; and if he accepts that this creates an inequity compared to younger carers who are entitled to the full rate. [50003/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Carer's Allowance is the main income support scheme for family carers in the community. Under the one payment per person rule, people eligible for multiple social welfare payments typically receive the higher of the available options. This reflects the fact that payments are intended as an income support that arises due to a specified contingency that eliminates or significantly restricts a person’s ability to earn an income from employment.

However, as an exception to this rule, where a person is receiving a social welfare payment such as State Pension, and also caring for 35 hours or more per week, they can also receive a payment equivalent to up to half the Carer’s Allowance rate. This means that a person currently in receipt of a Carer's Allowance who may have an underlying entitlement to another social welfare payment can transfer to that payment and continue to receive a payment the maximum of which is up to a half-rate Carer's Allowance. This arrangement applies to almost all weekly social welfare payments and to people in receipt of increases for a qualified adult.

Therefore, carers of pension age receive an increase in their support payments because they can simultaneously receive both the State Pension and another payment which is equivalent to a half-rate Carer's Allowance which is paid at a higher rate for those over 66.

In addition, carers receiving the Half-rate Carer’s Allowance also benefit from the €2,000 annual Carer’s Support Grant.

The Programme for Government includes a number of commitments to support carers of pension age. These include progressively increasing weekly pension and carer payments and continuing to increase the annual Carer's Support Grant.

These commitments will be advanced over the lifetime of the Government in the overall budgetary and policy context.