The Government is very aware of the valuable work being carried out by family carers. This is evidenced by the extensive measures it has taken to support carers over recent years. The approach to date has been targeted and has involved increases to payment rates in conjunction with earnings disregard increases and targeted cost-of-living lump sum and double payments. This approach was maintained and continued with budget 2025. At €2.6 billion, it is, for the third year in a row, the largest social protection package in the history of the State.
There are two sources of data that provide an estimate of the total number of people providing unpaid care in our society, namely, the census data from 2022 and the Irish health survey 2019, both from the Central Statistics Office. The census data from 2022 showed 299,000 people who self-declared on the census form as providing unpaid care at that time. The Irish health survey from 2019 suggests a higher figure in the order of 517,000, as reported by Family Carers Ireland.
Officials in the Department of Social Protection have estimated the cost of removing the means test for carer's allowance at an additional €600 million a year, based on the current scheme numbers. High-level estimates indicate this figure could increase to €2 billion over time. It is important that we are transparent about costs and about implications for departing from a means-test approach in the social welfare system. Means tests have always been a feature of our social welfare system to ensure resources are targeted at those who need them most. If we were to introduce a universal payment regardless of means, the question needs to be asked as to whether the Department of Social Protection is the appropriate Department to make that payment. What are the knock-on effects? Should disability payments be means-tested? Should jobseeker's payments be means tested?
As mentioned in the opening statement, the outcome of the work of the interdepartmental group and other work regarding broader means testing taking place in the Department of Social Protection will help to inform any future decisions regarding any changes to the carers' payments, including carer's allowance. In regard to other improvements to non-means-tested care payments, as outlined earlier the Minister for Social Protection has placed carers front and centre in her Department's priorities. It is important to acknowledge that there are a range of other supports for carers provided by the Department of Social Protection which are not based on means assessments, such as the carer's support grant, carer's benefit and the domiciliary care allowance. Under her tenure, the Minister has also progressively improved the rates of these payments and widened their accessibility to family carers.
The carer's support grant is a payment for all carers, even those in receipt of carer's allowance. It can be claimed by carers regardless of their means or social insurance contributions. As part of budget 2025, the annual carer's support grant will be increased by €150 to €2,000. The rate of this grant has increased by €300 under this Government and is now at the highest ever rate. Carer's benefit is based on social insurance contributions. It is a very effective payment for people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person in need of full-time care. It is payable for a period of up to two years for each care recipient and is estimated to have cost almost €58 million this year. In budget 2025 carer's benefit will be made available to the self-employed for the first time. Domiciliary care allowance is payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child with a severe disability who requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the care and attention usually required by a child of the same age. From January, the rate will be increased by €20 to €360 per month. This monthly payment has increased cumulatively by €50.50 since January 2023.
I want to touch on this payment briefly as an example of how the Minister for Social Protection has engaged with and listened to carers. She met with the families of very sick children and heard about the financial stresses they are experiencing while their children are undergoing medical treatments. As a result, she made a number of changes to this payment. These include extending the period during which the domiciliary care allowance can be paid for children in hospital from three months to six months. Earlier this year, she also made a change to make the domiciliary care allowance available for babies who remain in an acute hospital after birth for a period of eight months. While these are relatively small changes, they have been significant for the families who are thrust into these difficult situations, particularly those parents of newborn babies who are unable to bring their babies home after they are born.
In regard to the issue of bringing forward the announced changes to carer's allowance income thresholds, which have been raised by various Deputies in their contributions. To be clear, all budget measures have been given specific dates to enable their implementation from a processing and systems perspective and in light of the available budget 2025 envelope. Adjusting means thresholds is more complicated than increasing payment rates, as it requires reviews of an individual claim and adjustments of claims already in payment. For that reason, changes to means thresholds that are announced on budget day usually take place mid-year. This approach was taken this year when the weekly income disregard for carer's allowance increased to €450 for a single person and to €900 for a couple, only five months ago, in June. The Department needs this lead-in time to undertake the required reviews of means and to contact people whose payments might be affected to give them the opportunity to update the means data the Department has for them. It is also worth pointing out that the earlier implementation date suggested would be of no benefit to 96% of carer's allowance recipients who are solely reliant on the payment as their source of income.