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Carers Allowance means test - outgoings

  • 22-02-2019 1:06pm
    #1
    irishgal21
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32 ✭


    I've just realised that the carers allowance means test doesn't take into consideration any outgoings including mortgage repayments. They just disregard €665 for a couple regardless of your mortgage outgoings..

    Isn't this grossly unfair ? it's like saying everyone in Ireland is paying the same amount of mortgage repayment.

    The medical card means test DOES consider mortgage repayments, which is much fairer.

    Why is there a difference ?

    This would mean someone with a considerably large mortgage and no savings and therefore very little disposable income would be on the same means scale as someone with no Mortgage and a large cash sum in the bank and plenty of disposable income ?

    Isn't a means test supposed to conclude how much disposable income you have ?

    Just doesn't make sense.


Comments

  • #2
    splinter65
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,420 ✭✭✭splinter65


    Medical cards are administered by the Dept of Health and SW payments by DSP, two very different entities.
    Don’t forget medical cards are by their nature short term benefits and can be reviewed frequently and disallowed or withdrawn at any time. Less so with long term SW payments like Carers Allowance.
    If you have been in employment recently and have stopped working to care for somebody then you can apply for Carers Benefit which is not means tested.
    DSP does not allow for customized individual awards as the legislation wouldn’t bear up. Where do you draw the line with outgoings? The average mortgage/rent in a rural area wouldn’t be the same as the cities. So then you are making different rules for different circumstances. It’s not possible.


  • #3
    irishgal21
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32 ✭irishgal21


    Eh? It's perfectly possible since the Depth of health are doing it already for medical cards ! A means test is a means test and when mortgage repayments are taken into account its obviously fairer.
    With Medical card assessment each case is treated individually which then yields a more accurate idea of a persons true means. If everyone's outgoings are considered then I don't see how this is seen as different rules for different circumstances ?


  • #4
    splinter65
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,420 ✭✭✭splinter65


    irishgal21 wrote: »
    Eh? It's perfectly possible since the Depth of health are doing it already for medical cards ! A means test is a means test and when mortgage repayments are taken into account its obviously fairer.
    With Medical card assessment each case is treated individually which then yields a more accurate idea of a persons true means. If everyone's outgoings are considered then I don't see how this is seen as different rules for different circumstances ?

    We’ll have to agree to differ. Medical card is a short term benefit with a low income threshold which isn’t anything like as expensive to the state as SW.
    SW allowances are long term payments made to claimants with insufficient social insurance to be entitled to a benefit and insufficient income. The entire SW budget for 2019 is more then 23 billion. Medical cards don’t cost anything like that.


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