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MINISTER FOR SOCIAL Protection Heather Humphreys has announced the details of three cost-of-living supports that will be paid to thousands of households this week.
The payments, totalling €133 million, were agreed in Budget 2024.
On Thursday, a €400 lump sum payment will be paid to around 120,000 carers who receive the Carer’s Support Grant.
From Wednesday to Friday, a €200 lump sum payment will be paid to around 240,000 people who are in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance.
Throughout the week, a lump sum of €100 per child will be paid to families in respect of 370,000 qualified children.
This is paid to people who receive an Increase for a Qualified Child on their primary social welfare payment.
People will receive the lump sum payment in addition to and on the same day that they usually receive their primary payment.
All of the payments are automatically paid and people do not need to apply for them.
Humphreys also announced a new scheme to provide pension provision for long-term carers.
The Long Term Carers Contributions scheme is set to make it easier for a long-term carer to qualify for a Contributory State Pension.
Under the scheme, any period in which a carer is registered as providing care to a person who has a disability that requires full-time care and attention can be included in their pay-related social insurance (PRSI) record for Contributory State Pension purposes.
In order to avail of these changes, a minimum of 20 years of long-term carers contributions are required.
Announcing the scheme at a Family Carers Ireland local carer support group meeting in Baldoyle Community Hall in Dublin, Humphreys said:
“I am delighted to announce this scheme, which will ensure that long-term carers of dependents are provided with contributions for gaps in their social insurance record for the first time in the history of the State.
“This will help ensure that thousands of people, mainly women, who have spent time caring for incapacitated loved ones will now be able to qualify for the Contributory State Pension,” she said.
The Minister encouraged all carers to register their caring periods so that in cases where they have cared for a loved one for over 20 years, “their pension entitlement reflects their important contribution to their family and to society by the time they reach pension age”.
Carers can apply for Long-Term Carers contributions at MyWelfare.ie.
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Does anyone have a reasonable explanation why women born before 1946 and spent years rearing their children have been excluded by the Dept of Social Protection from claiming for pension credits under the Homemakers Scheme? All women born after that date who have reared families are entitled to claim. Is this an example of ageism or is it at the very least discriminatory?
@Mary Dunphy:
Hard to fathom, can hardly be the extra numbers involved….unless they’ve been excluded as part of a similar such arrangement on a related matter/s as wouldn’t be uncommon.
Collective bargaining agreements within the public service relating to financial awards and hard earned rewards may be arbitrated similarly, if any use!?
@Mary Dunphy: It is not just women born before 1946 that do not qualify for their own old age pension. In 2012 the state introduced new legislation which meant that mothers in the home who reared their own children and likely looked after parents, in-laws and family members who needed support were no longer entitled to their own pension unless they had 520 credits. These people were not paid carers as there was no such payment in that time, indeed there were no child care options or creches . Many of these women were forced out of their jobs on marriage or because of the unfair taxation of married women, very many were not even aware of the possibility of ‘signing for credits’. There were no policies to inform or educate women on their entitlements. Prior to the 2012 legislation , the requirement was 260 credits to qualify for a pension so most women, our mothers/grandmothers would have had their own pensions but this is no longer the case. With the introduction of the 2012 legislation, women in the home lost their right to their pension so despite the rhetoric of the value placed on women who undertook caring roles in the home and by their contribution afforded a service to the state, the reality is that they are invisible old people who are denied an income and struggle to survive but Heather Humphreys has no plans to address this marginalised group, quite simply they are ignored.
@Eileen Kelly: Perfectly understand the frustration that is felt by not alone women but also a number of men who are being denied their pension based on flimsy excuses. Personally having more than the required number of contributions for a full old age pension – from working in the private sector after my family was reared – but, having worked for 6 years in the public service and let go on marriage (famous marriage bar) my contributions have been averaged (famous averaging rule) over the period from the date I first began working in the public service until I retired and so I am denied a full old age pension. Had I never worked prior to my marriage I would be in receipt of the full old age pension. Many of those in receipt of the full old age pension have many less contributions than I. I have yet to receive a logical explanation for this despite corresponding with various Ministers and officials in the Dept of Social Protection.
Nothing for Single people again, even though we have to pay higher rent costs. My landlord won’t even allow HAP or Rental tax breaks.
Him and his wife want a cash income into every month and E1950 a month is a lot of money to get out and work for :-( .
@Luka Roche: its illegal for a landlord to not accept HAP
It will keep the pubs in business
@mark mc cann: how?
@Alison Hughes: Use your imagination.
@mark mc cann: I,m sure people struggling to pay bills and survive in times of inflation, spiraling rents will appreciate the ignorance of your comment.
Genuine carers should get pension contributions and a larger payment. But they need to do a better job of weeding out the grab a granny brigade. Nobody should be allowed to stay on the dole longer than 6 months in a time of labour shortages. They need to get more strict with disability allowance, there’s a lot of messers in that group. Money for dependents should capped, you can’t keep having more and more kids if you can’t afford them. We can’t run a country where almost half the population depend on Gov handouts, esp with an aging population
A camel with 3 humps.
Humphrey.
Give us more money please?
Great little country
@Brendan O’Connor: Most of our problems are growing pains in a world full of failed and failing states As the standard/cost of living increases just to be “normal” moves up and standing still feels like going down. The level of work/enterprise required to be “normal” moves beyond more and more people creating a gap between hard working, ordinary working and little working citizens. Inequality is a product of an active free society and economy.
The latter group dont need their payout, they got everything they needed on thursday night
have your say