Budget 2027 Must Ensure Families Aren't Carrying the Cost of Care Alone

Family Carers Ireland calls for full abolition of means test and new Family Carer Payment 

Wednesday, 8th July 2026: Family Carers Ireland has called on Government to use Budget 2027 to deliver the measures and supports needed so that no family carer is left to care alone.

It follows two recently published reports that expose the gap between the coalition’s commitments and family carers’ daily lives. The Family Carer Scorecard 2025 found that none of the 34 Programme for Government commitments assessed had been fully delivered. The State of Caring 2026 found that 71% of family carers are struggling to make ends meet, 75% have never received respite, and 55% have paid privately for supports that should be publicly available.

The charity’s pre-budget submission - Building a Caring Society - is built around nine pillars of change and reflect the issues family carers have consistently raised through research, consultations and local assemblies:

1.    A fair and adequate income for carers
2.    Abolition of the Carer’s Allowance means test
3.    A right to respite
4.    Fully fund the Carer Guarantee
5.    Deliver the statutory home support scheme
6.    Prioritise supports for children with additional needs
7.    Deliver housing, transport and climate justice
8.    Support family carers in paid employment
9.    Future planning and assisted decision making.

A central ask is reform of income supports for family carers, including the development of a new Family Carer Payment and the full abolition of the Carer’s Allowance means test. As an immediate Budget measure, the Government is being urged to increase the weekly rate of Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Benefit to €325 to recognise the additional cost of providing full-time care.

Family Carers Ireland is calling for all full-time family carers to be given a right to appropriate, free and regular respite, with access based on need rather than geography or crisis, and for the long promised statutory home support scheme to be delivered, backed by investment to meet demand, and mileage reimbursement for all home care workers, equivalent to that paid to HSE home care staff.

It says the Government must fully fund the Carer Guarantee to ensure that family carers have equitable access to information, training, and support services before they reach crisis point and regardless of where they live. 

For children with additional needs, Family Carers Ireland is calling for funded access to assessments and interventions while public waiting lists are being cleared, as well as a statutory right to the supports identified through Assessment of Need within a defined timeframe.

Other measures include increased housing adaptation funding, reform of disability transport supports, a rebate for additional waste disposal costs where incontinence care is provided, disability and carer proofing of climate policies, statutory pay for medical care leave, secure funding for the Caring Employers programme, and fairer tax treatment for carers.

A new ninth pillar on future planning and assisted decision-making, shaped by consultation at local carer assemblies, reflects deep concern - especially among parents of those with lifelong or complex needs - about what happens when they can no longer provide care. Family Carers Ireland is calling for a Future Planning Taskforce to develop clear pathways for long term housing, care arrangements, financial security and decision-making supports, so families are not left to search for answers at the point of illness, bereavement or crisis.

Clare Duffy, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Family Carers Ireland said:

“The Government cannot claim progress for family carers while its own commitments remain undelivered. These failures are not happening on paper, they are being felt in homes, where those providing essential care are cutting back on food and heating and going without breaks, support or certainty. The result is poverty, exhaustion and isolation.

“This Budget must deliver a payment that genuinely reflects the real cost of care, provide respite services that family carers can actually access, and ensure home support is available when families need it. If it fails to do so, Government should reconsider any claims that it values family carers.”