Budget 2027

9. Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for Social Protection to review the carer’s allowance and carer’s benefit with a view to the abolition of the means test in budget 2027. [67662/26]

I ask the Minister to honour in budget 2027, in two weeks time, the commitment made to abolish the means test for carer’s allowance.

Carer’s allowance is the main income support for carers. Some 111,000 people are receiving the payment, with an estimated investment of over €1.4 billion this year. Carer's benefit is a weekly social insurance-based payment for those who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to provide full-time care. At the end of August, there were 5,136 recipients of carer's benefit, with an investment of over €76 million this year. The programme for Government commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for carer’s allowance, with a commitment to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of this Government. It is not possible to do everything we might like to do in one year. Each year, I have to balance the value of any individual measure, no matter how much I support it, against other equally merited measures. However, as the Deputy will agree, the process of addressing the means test for carer’s allowance is well under way. As part of budget 2026, and with effect from July, we increased the weekly income disregard by 60% from €625 to €1,000 from €625 for a single person and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers who are part of a couple. These disregards are now by far the highest in the social welfare system. The changes mean that a carer in a two-adult household with an income of €110,000 can retain their full carer’s allowance payment or can receive a partial payment where the household income is up to €138,000. One consequence of this change is that virtually everyone on an existing payment on the scheme is receiving the maximum weekly rate. In line with the carer’s allowance income disregard for a single person, the earnings limit for carer’s benefit was also increased in July to €1,000 per week. As discussed earlier, we are involved with budget negotiations. This is a very solid programme for Government commitment which I have made considerable progress on. I am determined to see it through.

In the run-up to general election in 2024, every party in this House, including Fianna Fáil, made a commitment to abolish the means test for carers. It was not to be abolished over the lifetime of the Government or in two, three or four years. The commitment was to abolish the means test. That commitment was broken last year. From what the Minister said, it sounds as if we will have a similar situation this year. The fact is that, as the Minister is aware, the 500,000 carers we have save the State something like €20 billion per year. They are paid a very low hourly rate. Broken down, it amounts to €1.60 per hour. A survey shows that 75% of carers get no respite, 49% suffer from severe loneliness and 32% suffer from very bad mental health. There were increases in the income limits in this year's budget, and they are welcome, but they do not solve the problem. The moneys needed to do this are not significant. Both the Parliamentary Budget Office and Family Carers Ireland indicate that the sum involved is less than €400 million. I suggest that the Minister should honour the commitment in the forthcoming budget.

The Deputy is very experienced. He knows there is a programme for Government. I hope to be in office for five years, and I will deliver on the commitment. It has to be done on a phased basis. I would love to do it overnight. If did that, however, the Deputy would be criticising me for not doing other things in the Department. We have had record increases. I genuinely think that any payment in respect of which you can have an income of €110,000 and retain the full allowance gives a sense of the direction of travel. In July, the income disregard was increased by 60% for a single person and for a couple. That gives a sense of my determination to drive this through. In addition, the vast majority of existing carers who are receiving a payment are on the maximum rate, which means that we have increased their income as well. I assure the Deputy that we are engaging and working on this in the context of our budget negotiations. We will invest €2.2 billion in supporting carers this year. I very much value their work and the work done on their behalf by Family Carers Ireland, Care Alliance Ireland and, especially, as we said earlier, the young carers' groups. That work is very important.

The Minister's party and every other party in this House made a commitment to the electorate. That commitment has not been honoured. That is a very serious situation because it calls into question people's trust in the democratic process and in politicians. That is serious. The Minister should take what I am saying on board and abolish the means test in the forthcoming budget. There are something like 33,000 carers in receipt of the carer's support grant who are not in receipt of the carer's allowance. That is a significant number. These people do the same work as all other carers. They are under the same pressures as other carers. They feel the same loneliness and have the same lack of respite and mental health difficulties. They should surely be entitled to the carer's allowance. The moneys involved are not significant. The Parliamentary Budget Office has indicated that. This is something which, in the context of the political and democratic processes and in the context of being fair to people, the Minister should introduce in the budget.

Respectfully, I object to the Deputy's assertion that we are not delivering on this. There has been a 60% increase to the income disregard. Somebody on €110,000 can get a full carer's payment. We are working towards the abolition of the means test. I will examine the difference between the number of people receiving the carer's support grant and the number getting the carer's allowance. They may be people who are working and who do not want to get the full payment, but I will examine the position. I reiterate that there has been a 60% increase in the income disregard, which means that somebody on €110,000 can get a full payment. Somebody on €138,000 can get a partial payment. These are not inconsiderable payments, but I want to get to a stage where we abolish the means test in order to acknowledge the work of carers. I absolutely acknowledge it. I also want to make sure that as we expand it, we protect existing carers. I have to try to allocate my budget in a way that protects existing carers and expands the scheme. I assure the Deputy that if I get five years in this Department - and well before then - by the time we get to the next election, the Deputy and I will be able and say that the means test has been abolished.