I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 56 together.
In applications for carer's allowance the basic qualifying conditions, apart from a means test, are that the person receiving care must be so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention and the carer is providing that full-time care and attention. The carer is the applicant and, accordingly, is invariably the appellant against a decision disallowing payment.
Appeals against the refusal of claims for carer's allowance normally require an oral hearing in order to determine the appeal. The carer, as the appellant, attends the hearing but it is not usual for the person being cared for to attend. In many instances the person who is being cared for is not in a position to attend the hearing. In any event, his or her absence should not mean that his or her situation cannot be adequately put forward at the hearing.
In most instances an application for a carer's allowance will have been investigated by an inspector of the Department who will have given the general background to the application and afforded the applicant the opportunity to set out the basis for the claim. This is available to the appeals officer and will usually be gone through at the hearing. In addition, the medical evidence offered by both the caree's own doctor and the opinions of the Department's medical assessors are taken into consideration by the appeals officer. The case will usually revolve around aspects relating to the medical evidence and the facts relating to the extent and type of care provided. All of these matters are established by reference to the inspector's report, the carer's statements and evidence and the medical evidence.
However, many carees are by definition too elderly or frail to attend and for this reason they are rarely summoned. The presence of the caree at the hearing is, therefore, not essential. However, in any instance where a carer wishes to have the caree present there is no difficulty about doing so.
There is provision also for having the person who is being cared for examined by a medical assessor of the Department where this is likely to be helpful and where the caree's doctor has indicated that he or she would be able to attend such an examination. It is accepted that testimony by the care recipient could be helpful in certain cases. Indeed, in his annual report for 2001, the chief appeals officer alluded to the issue raised by the Deputies and stated that, in some cases, they would be able to provide valuable, first-hand testimony.
Ultimately, the question of who should attend an oral hearing is one for the appeals officer but, in general, care recipients who do attend hearings with a view to testifying in support of the carer's appeal are readily facilitated.