To qualify for a social assistance payment you must pass a means test. A means test takes place when the Department of Social Protection (DSP) examines all your income from various sources to see if it falls below a certain level. If it is below a certain level you may qualify for a social assistance payment.
Before January 2012 income from working for the Health Service Executive (HSE) as a home-help was not taken into account in the means test for the following payments:
However from January 2012 any income you get from working as a home help is taken into account.
How your income from employment or self-employment is assessed depends on the payment you are getting. Sometimes a certain amount of income from employment or income from a particular source is not taken into account. More information on income not taken into account (or disregarded) is available in our document on the means test.