New legislation to allow for pensions for long-term carers
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys is bringing forward legislation to provide pensions for long-term carers when they retire.
People who have been caring for disabled children or other loved ones for more than 20 years are to receive pension entitlements under new changes.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys is bringing forward legislation to provide pensions for long-term carers when they retire.
"This particularly applies to mothers who have looked after children with severe disabilities — they found themselves that they had to give up work. Now we're going to make provision so that they will get a pension when they retire," Ms Humphreys said.
Confirming she would be bringing the measure to Cabinet on Tuesday, Ms Humphreys said: "How it's going to work is that if you have been caring for more than 20 years for a disabled family member, you will get credits for all of the years that you did that work, and then you will automatically be entitled to a contributory pension based on the years of caring."
She added there was "already a system in place" for those who act as carers for less than 20 years.
"They are already been taken care of through the system that we have, so what I wanted to do tomorrow is to look at the long-term carers who have been caring all their lives."
Ms Humphreys will also bring details of new pay-related benefits for people who are made redundant, which will be "commensurate" with the salary a person was on before they lost their job.
"What that means is that if you are made unemployed, you will receive an enhanced payment on a tapered basis. We're one of the outliers in Europe in terms of our job seeker's support because we have one flat rate payment at the minute."
The change will require legislation, which Ms Humphreys is seeking approval to draft the new laws from her Cabinet colleagues.
"We have seen a number of redundancies recently where you had workers on salaries of possibly €800 or €900 and they found themselves on a flat rate payment of €220, which is the payment for everybody across the board.
"So I want to change that because I think it's a fairer system that those who have paid all their lives, who have worked all their lives, who find themselves in the awful position where they have lost a job that they will get an enhanced benefit," she said.
