The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment made to people who are providing full time care and attention to elderly people or people with disabilities whose income falls below certain limits. The principal condition for receipt of the allowance is that full time care and attention is required and being provided.
On receipt of an application for carer's allowance, a comprehensive medical report form must be completed in respect of the person being cared for. This report is completed by the person's own doctor and is subsequently examined by one of my Department's medical assessors to determine if the medical criteria for the receipt of carer's allowance are satisfied.
The medical assessors, who are all qualified and experienced medical practitioners, assess each case having regard to the report submitted by the applicant's general practitioner and other available medical evidence. For example, if the care recipient is already in receipt of a disability allowance or invalidity pension from the Department, the relevant medical evidence will be taken into account. The medical assessor evaluates each case on its merits and advises a deciding officer who then decides whether or not the necessary medical and other criteria are satisfied.
In all my Department's schemes there is a review mechanism to ensure that entitlement conditions continue to be satisfied. In the case of carer's allowance these reviews are selective and are undertaken in a small number of appropriate cases, to ensure that the medical criteria continue to be fulfilled. During 1999 14 carer's allowance recipients had their claims disallowed on the basis that they did not satisfy the full time care attention condition, of which six were reinstated following appeal.
As the Deputy will be aware I am introducing from next October a new social insurance carer's benefit scheme which will provide a non-means tested payment to employed persons who give up employment to undertake caring duties. I have furthermore now secured Government agreement to an extension of the duration of payment of the benefit from 12 months, as announced in the budget, to 15 months.
In the context of the introduction of that scheme my Department is reviewing the medical assessment procedures as they apply to carer's allowance. I think it is appropriate, however, that my Department's medical assessors would continue to have a role in the determination of entitlement under the scheme.