Carer's Allowance and Carer's Benefit rise by €10 a week from January 2027, and the Carer's Allowance income disregard rises by €150 to €1,150 a week for a single carer and by €300 to €2,300 for a couple from July 2027, under Budget 2027 announced on 6 October. The Irish Examiner's welfare guide puts the full-rate change in January and the means-test change in July.

The means test: where it stands now and where it is going

The current disregards are €1,000 a week for a single carer and €2,000 for a couple, in force since 1 July 2026, when the Connaught Telegraph reported almost 2,700 carers getting an increase. July 2027 takes them to €1,150 and €2,300.

Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary told the Irish Examiner on 7 October that from next July a couple earning €126,000 a year will get a full carer's payment and a couple on €155,000 a partial one. He said there is a "very clear determination" to get rid of means testing during this Government's term, but that it has to be done on a "sustainable basis".

Raising the main payments by €10 a week costs €750 million, Calleary said in the same interview.

Other Budget 2027 measures for carers and disabled people

The Irish Times budget guide of 7 October lists the start dates:

• Home Carer tax credit rises by €100 from January 2027.
• A new €500 cost-of-disability payment goes to adult long-term recipients of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension and Blind Pension, about 240,000 people, in the first quarter of 2027.
• Living Alone Allowance rises by €3 to €25 a week from January 2027.
• Fuel Allowance rises by €5 to €43 a week, and the income limit for a single person over 66 goes to €641. Calleary told the Irish Examiner the single-person limit rises from €27,700 to over €33,000.
• The Christmas bonus is a double payment in December 2026, according to the Irish Examiner.

Family Carers Ireland said on 6 October that only 4% of Carer's Allowance recipients currently get Fuel Allowance. Its chief executive Sharon Foley said "many family carers will struggle to see how this Budget changes the reality of their everyday lives."

Home support: more hours promised, but waiting lists are up

Budget 2027 includes an extra 1.8 million home-support hours for older people in 2027, the Irish Examiner reported from the health budget on 6 October. Family Carers Ireland lists 191,000 additional home support and personal assistance hours on the disability side, 489 residential care packages and 1,500 day-service places.

Those hours land on a list that is growing. HSE figures reported by the Irish Times on 31 August showed 5,539 people waiting for home support at the end of June 2026, up 12% on a year earlier; 2,143 were new applicants and 3,396 were existing clients waiting for extra hours. The West and North West had 1,265 waiting, Dublin and the North East 1,165.

Where you live decides how long you wait. Home and Community Care Ireland's analysis, reported by RTÉ on 17 September, showed December 2025 waiting lists of 748 in Clare and Limerick, 579 in Louth-Meath, 522 in Galway-Roscommon, 519 in Cork South and West and 482 in Waterford-Wexford, against zero in three Dublin areas. The HSE told RTÉ the list is "primarily associated with an increasing capacity issue related to the availability of care staff".

Who actually delivers the care

Direct HSE staff delivered 29.8% of home-support hours in the first half of 2026, down from 44% in 2019, according to HSE figures in the Irish Times. The rest is contracted out to private and voluntary providers. HCCI says its members delivered 68% of all home supports in 2025, when 60,463 people received home care.

This year's HSE service plan provides 27 million home-support hours for 62,000 people.Family Carers Ireland's State of Caring research found 75% of carers have never had respite and 55% have paid privately for a service that should have been publicly provided.

Strike disruption in November

A 24-hour public sector strike is called for Thursday 12 November, RTÉ reported on 4 November, after talks at the Workplace Relations Commission reached what unions called a significant impasse. The 14 October strike involved more than 300,000 workers and the HSE postponed all elective procedures and cancelled thousands of appointments that day.

What it means for you

If you care for someone at home, check your income against the new July 2027 disregards; a couple with a combined income up to €126,000 can expect a full payment from then, so an application refused in the past may now succeed. Apply or re-apply through the Department of Social Protection in good time, as the January €10 increase is automatic but the means-test change needs a current claim.

If your family member is approved for HSE home support but waiting, ask the local HSE older persons' office for the current waiting time in your area, and consider a private home-care provider for interim hours, especially over Christmas when families cover gaps. Check any HSE appointment that falls on 12 November. If you need to find a private home carer, respite sitter or domestic help, Locufy lists local care providers by area.

For providers: quote hourly rates in writing, state whether travel time is charged, and tell families that private hours can run alongside HSE hours. Expect enquiries to rise through December and January; from January 2027 staff costs rise with the minimum wage going to €14.94 an hour.

Key dates

• December 2026: double Christmas bonus week for welfare recipients
• 12 November 2026: 24-hour public sector strike; HSE appointments likely affected
• 1 January 2027: Carer's Allowance and Carer's Benefit up €10; Living Alone Allowance €25; Home Carer tax credit up €100; Fuel Allowance €43
• First quarter 2027: €500 cost-of-disability payment
• July 2027: Carer's Allowance income disregard €1,150 single / €2,300 couple

Sources

• Irish Examiner — 'Determination' to scrap carer's allowance means testing during lifetime of Government, minister says
• Irish Times — When budget changes kick in and how to claim them
• Irish Examiner — Budget 2027: Here are the changes to pensions and other welfare payments and when they kick in
• Family Carers Ireland — Budget 2027 Falls Short for Family Carers
• Connaught Telegraph — Family carers in Mayo to receive an increase in their payment from today
• Irish Examiner — Budget 2027: Better access to out-of-hours GPs with €1.6bn increase in health spending
• Irish Times — More than two-thirds of homecare packages outsourced to third parties, HSE figures show
• RTÉ — HSE home care supports an Eircode lottery, say providers
• RTÉ — Talks to continue over dispute on public sector pay deal

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