Michael Lowry welcomes 'significant improvements' to Carers’ Allowance Means Test

Improvements to supports for Carers’ have been welcomed by Deputy Michael Lowry.

Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary is introducing changes to the Means Test that applies to Carers so that many more can avail of Carer’s Allowance or potentially receive a higher rate of payment.

These improvements will benefit some 177 Carers in Tipperary, and a total of 5,280 across the country who previously did not qualify or received a reduced amount.

Weekly income disregard for Carers Allowance increases to €625 for a single person and to €1,250 for a couple and over 5,200 Carer’s Allowance recipients will receive higher rates of payment from today

99% of current Carer’s Allowance recipients now entitled to the full payment rate andCarer’s Benefit Income Limit also increases by €175 to €625 per week.

Improvements mean more Carers can now avail of Carer’s Allowance Changes to supports for Carers was one the key issues for Deputy Lowry and the Regional Group of TD’s in Government Formation Talks earlier this year.

The Tipperary TD had also raised the need for improvements to the Carers Allowance on several occasions in the course of the previous Dáil.

The improvements announced by the Minister today will result in changes to the Means Test that applies to carers so that many more can avail of Carer’s Allowance or potentially receive a higher rate of payment.

Furthermore, the increases make the Scheme accessible to more carers who may not have previously qualified for Carer’s Allowance due to their means.

As a result of these increases, a carer in a two-adult household with an income of approximately €69,000 will still retain their full Carers payment and even with an income of €97,000 will retain a partial payment.

The Carer's Allowance is a means tested social assistance payment. The income disregards that apply to the payment are the highest income disregards in the Social Welfare system.

Meanwhile, the Carer’s Benefit income limit will also increase from €450 to €625.  

Carer’s Benefit is a Social Insurance-based payment paid to people who leave work or reduce their hours to care for a person in need of full-time care.  In addition, since January 2025, Carer’s Benefit has been extended to self-employed people.

Carer’s Allowance is a means-tested payment for people living in Ireland who are looking after someone who needs support because of age, physical or learning disability or illness, including mental illness.

It is primarily aimed at carers on low incomes who live with and look after certain people who need full-time care and attention. Carer’s Allowance may be paid at half-rate with certain other Social Welfare payments.

There are currently 100,154 recipients of Carer’s Allowance. The projected expenditure on Carer’s Allowance alone in 2025 is approximately €1.2 billion.

The income disregard and means test for Carer’s Allowance is the highest within the social welfare system.

The change to the Carer’s Allowance payment is in addition to a number of improvements, including the increase in the Carer’s Support Grant, which is now €2,000, the highest rate since its introduction.

Carer’s Allowance is now included as a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance, once the other qualifying conditions for Fuel Allowance are also satisfied.

Carer’s Benefit has also been extended to the self-employed for the first time. This took effect from January.

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From January 2024, a new Long-Term Carers Contribution scheme was introduced.

This significant reform enables long term carers, who have been caring for 20 years or more, to qualify for the State Pension Contributory. Since the introduction of the scheme, over 8,000 people have been awarded Long-Term Carers Contributions of which over 6,000 are women.

The weekly Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Benefit payments have increased by €41 over the last four years.

The Domiciliary Care Allowance has increased by €50.50 since 2023 and now stands at €360 per month.
 

Carer’s Benefit

Carer's Benefit is a payment made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care. It is payable for a period of 2 years (104 weeks) for each care recipient and may be claimed over separate periods up to a total of 2 years (104 weeks).

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There are currently 4,327 carers in receipt of the Carer’s benefit payment.

The changes announced today mean that a person can earn up to €625 per week after tax and providing they meet the other conditions of the scheme (i.e. provision of full-time care and social insurance conditions) they may qualify for this payment.