30. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Social Protection if he consideration will be given to review the minimum 16 hours weekly worked hours to qualify for carer’s benefit; and the impact the current rules have for teachers who are not on full time hours. [67659/26]

Carer's Benefit is a payment made by my Department to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their hours to care for someone in need of full-time care and attention.  There are currently 5,150 people in receipt of Carer's Benefit and expenditure on the scheme is estimated to exceed €76 million this year.

To qualify, a person must meet the PRSI and other statutory conditions of the scheme including a requirement to have been in insurable employment for at least 16 hours per week or 32 hours per fortnight.  Contracted hours are a matter between an employer and employee.

In cases where a person does not meet the qualifying conditions for Carer's Benefit, they may instead qualify for the means tested Carer’s Allowance.  In July, the income disregards were increased significantly to €1,000 for a single carer and €2,000 for a couple.  These improvements mean that, for example, a carer in a two-adult household with an income of approximately €110,000 will still retain their full carers payment and even with an income of €138,000 will retain a partial payment.

Any proposals for further changes to this condition would need to be considered in an overall budgetary context taking into account the impact on the Social Insurance Fund.