Brennan plans €300m boost for home carers

PENSIONERS who care for relatives in their own homes are to be allowed claim extra allowances without their pension rights being affected.

The number of people paid to look after sick or lderly relatives at home is also to be doubled next year in a move to help free up acute hospital beds.

The announcement of the changes was made by Social and Family Affairs Minister, Seamus Brennan.

Mr Brennan, in tandem with Health Minister Mary Harney, plans to increase payments to 50,000 home carers, up from 22,000 at present. The move will be welcomed by the Carers Association which has been lobbying for such a move for years and was bitterly disappointed when it did not come in last month's Budget.

The cost of doubling the numbers of paid carers is expected to be in the region of €300 million.

The measure is designed to encourage families to take care of relatives at home, freeing up hospital beds and helping to solve overcrowding in accident and emergency wards.

"It is better for people to be cared for outside hospitals and outside nursing homes," said Mr Brennan. "It is socially better, and it makes better economic sense for the state."

Mr Brennan said he would ease the income threshold which bars many carers from qualifying for state grants. He also plans to allow over-65s to claim extra allowances without losing their pension entitlements if they are caring for a spouse or relative in their own home. The €153.60 weekly carers' allowance and €1,000 annual holiday grant will also be increased significantly in next year's budget.

This move will help older carers like Mary and Denis McDonnell, from Douglas in Cork, who have been looking after their profoundly disabled daughter Sinéad for the past 41 years.

"There are 22,000 carers out there doing solid work keeping people out of hospitals, and we need to have a long hard look at how we can help them," said Mr Brennan. "We want to invest more in carers' allowances, respite grants and facilities."

Recent figures from the Central Statistics Office show that at least 40,000 people provide more than six hours' unpaid care per day to a loved one, but only 22,000 of these qualify for carers' allowance because of strict means-tested income rules.

A further 8,000 people provide four to six hours a day; 15,400 provide two to four hours care each day and 85,000 give up to two hours a day.