Carer’s Allowance is a payment for those who are looking after a child with special needs. Your child must need additional support because of age, illness, physical or learning disability.
The Carer’s Allowance is a means tested payment so any income, assets or savings you have will be taken in to consideration. The payment is mainly aimed at families earning less than €40,000 a year. In order to receive your payment you must not be engaged in employment or education courses for more than 15-hours a week. During your absence, adequate care for your special needs child must be arranged.
The first step in getting the Carer’s Allowance is that you must be in receipt of a Domiciliary Care Allowance. You can still receive Carer’s Allowance when your child is over the age of 16, but you will have to prove that your child is so incapacitated as to require full-time care.
Some parents automatically choose the mother to become Carer but in two recent financial plans that I completed, I recommend the husbands. The rationale behind my recommendation is both mothers had better careers and employment perks.
My recommendation to all parents is just think it through before you go on Carer’s. If you would like me to check if you are entitled to Carer’s Allowance then feel free to contact me on 021 482 3635.