Carer's allowance review welcomed

A review of the payment of domiciliary care allowance to more than 20,000 families, which gets under way next month, has been welcomed by the Carers’ Association.

The review, announced by the Department of Social Protection, comes as a number of families pursue legal actions against the department over its decision to stop paying them the allowance.

Once a carer loses the domiciliary care allowance, they automatically lose the carer’s allowance also.

The domiciliary care allowance, which is paid to the carer of a severely disabled child, is €309.50 a month.

The carer’s allowance is means-tested and can be up to €204 a week if caring for one person and €306 if caring for two.