Minister Calleary announces significant improvements to the Carer’s Allowance means test

• Weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance increases to €625 for a single person and to €1,250 for a couple
• Over 5,200 Carer’s Allowance recipients to receive higher rates of payment from today
• 99% of current Carer’s Allowance recipients now entitled to the full payment rate
• Carer’s Benefit Income Limit also increases by €175 to €625 per week
• Improvements mean more Carers can now avail of Carer’s Allowance

The Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary TD, has today announced a series of improvements to the Government’s supports for carers.

Minister 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.

The weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance is now increased by €175 to €625 per week for single carers, and by €350 to €1,250 per week for a couple.

Since June 2022, Carer’s Allowance income disregards have increased by €292.50 for single carers and €585 for carers in couples. An 88% increase.

The changes announced today mean that 5,280 carers will receive an increase in their Carer’s Allowance payment from today.

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

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.

Announcing the introduction of the changes today, Minister Calleary said:

“I am delighted to announce these significant increases to the weekly income disregards for Carer’s Allowance.

One of the areas that carers have raised with me regularly is the Carer’s means test. The changes I am announcing today will make the scheme more accessible to people who previously did not qualify.

The increase in the disregards also mean that 5,280 current recipients will receive a higher payment from today. Consequently, 99% of existing Carer’s Allowance recipients will now get the full rate of their entitlement.

These means test improvements are in addition to changes made to the Carer’s Support Grant, which was increased to €2,000, its highest ever level, and paid to 138,000 carers in June.

The Programme for Government commits to significantly increase the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the Government. The changes I am announcing today represent a significant step forward towards reaching this commitment.”

Notes:

County Breakdown of Carer’s Allowance recipients who will receive an increased payment from today:

Carer’s Allowance

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.

Carer’s Allowance 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. Other improvements include: -

• 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.
• 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).

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.