Carer’s allowance loss after promotion
Deputy Dempsey raises the case of a carer who lost allowance eligibility after her husband’s modest pay increase, despite extensive unpaid care and private support costs. The Tánaiste says such anomalies reinforce the case for abolishing the means test.
I recently met a lady in my constituency of Meath West who was finally approved for a carer's allowance nine years after she first started to care for her beautiful daughter who has many additional and complex needs. A short time later, this lady's husband got a modest increase in what is a good income, shall we say. That income, though, does pay for many private supports and therapies they need to get. In this instance, carer's allowance was going to someone who saved the State so much money by caring for her daughter, day in, day out. It provided her with a tiny bit of financial independence from her husband. More importantly, it was a small recognition of the work she does so diligently.
To say she was devastated when the family received a review letter would be an understatement. She felt used, let down and targeted when it arrived. To receive such a letter a few short months after being approved for carer's allowance to begin with is deeply unfair. She is lucky in that the family will survive financially without the allowance, but some others will not. Will the Government take immediate action to remove the review process for those who are approved and in receipt today of carer's allowance?
Comment on this
I thank Deputy Dempsey for raising this case. In many ways, it reminds us of why we need to abolish the means test. We are all hearing too many stories of carers not qualifying because of the income of the people they are married to or in a relationship with. As the Deputy said, there are also cases where people finally get the allowance and then find that if their spouse or partner does a few hours of extra work or gets a promotion, which are good things that happen in family life, they lose out. These are kinds of traps and anomalies. I do hope, without knowing the particulars of that person's situation, the budget might have helped. It is one of the reasons why we have significantly increased the income disregard for single people and couples in this budget. We want to build on that in the years ahead to deliver on the programme for Government commitment to abolish the means test. In the interim, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to reflect on the point the Deputy made regarding the reviews.