992. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated increased cost of removing the means test for carer’s allowance and providing it at the full rate for all who qualify; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35233/24]

The Government acknowledges the valuable role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy.

The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.7 billion this year.

The Carer’s Allowance scheme 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 and there are currently 97,130 people receiving this payment.

It is important to note that Carer’s Allowance is a financial support to people who cannot earn, or can only earn a limited income, due to their caring responsibilities and who have no other means or resources to rely upon. The Carer’s Allowance is not and never was intended to be a payment for the provision of caring.

The two principal conditions for receipt of Carer’s Allowance are that full time care and attention is required and provided, and that a means test is satisfied.

The use of means tests in the social welfare system is a method of targeting scarce resources to those that have most need. Removal of the means assessment for Carer’s Allowance, would not only change the nature of the scheme as an income support but would also have significant policy and budgetary implications and reduce the scope for the Department to provide income supports to lower income households.

My department conservatively estimated that the cost of removing the means test for Carer’s Allowance would be an additional €600 million per annum. This estimate was based solely on administrative data available to the Department, i.e., care recipients as per the Carer’s Support Grant figures. The figure takes no account of potential inflow. Census 2022 records approximately 299,000 self-reported carers over 19 years of age, with the total having increased by 50% from 195,000 six years previously. The main carer organisations believe the number is under reported and propose that there are about 500,000 carers. If it is the case that the number of carers is this high, it follows that the cost of abolition of the means test will also be much higher.

With the caveat that we cannot be certain how many people would meet the qualifying conditions for the scheme e.g., provision of full-time care of 35 hours or more per week, unknown overlap between the Census and the current recipients of carer income support payments, etc, a potential inflow of the people who self-report as carers in the Census could range from a low estimate of €880 million up to a high estimate of €2 billion. Increased expenditure on this scale would fundamentally change the nature of financial support and clearly reduce the scope to fund other critical schemes and services.

It is important to note that those carers who have no income other than the Carer’s Allowance payment would not benefit from the abolition of the earnings disregard.

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

• In June 2022 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.

• In June 2024, the weekly income disregards were increased further, from €350 to €450 for a single person, and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse/partner.

These changes mean that carers on a reduced rate move to a higher payment. In addition, many carers who previously did not qualify for a payment due to their means are brought into the Carer's Allowance system for the first time.

The means test disregards for Carer's Allowance are the highest in the Social Welfare system.

Notwithstanding these improvements, as part of Budget 2024, I established 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 carer's payments. This work is ongoing.

It is also 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.

• The Carer’s Support Grant can be claimed by carers regardless of their means or social insurance contributions.  I increased this grant to €1,850, its highest ever rate.

• Carer's Benefit is a weekly payment based on social insurance contributions rather than a means test and is payable for a period of up to 2 years.

• 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.

Any further changes or improvements to the carers' payments under my remit including the Carer's Allowance can only be considered in an overall policy and Budgetary context.

I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.