The person concerned applied for carer's allowance on 12 October 2000. Her case has been referred to an investigative officer of my Department for a means assessment and to confirm that the conditions for receipt of carers allowance are satisfied. Her entitlement will be further examined in the light of the investigative officer's report.
My Department is committed to providing an efficient service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are issued as expeditiously as possible having regard to the eligibility conditions which apply.
Whilst there has been an overall increase in the number of carers allowance applications awaiting determination, the majority are at an advanced stage of processing. The average time for deciding an application for receipt of the allowance is currently in the region of 12 weeks.
In determining entitlement to carer's allowance there are medical, means and residency conditions to be satisfied and there is inevitably a time lag involved in making the necessary investigations and inquiries to enable decisions to be made. The Deputy will also be aware that in recent years there have been a number of significant improvements to the scheme. The number of persons who now receive a carer's allowance has increased from 10,330 at the end of December 1997 to 16,405 at the end of November 2000.
The substantial increase in the number of new claims affects the time taken to process claims generally. However, the level of resources required and the standard for claim processing will be kept under review to ensure that applicants receive a good quality service having regard to the conditions governing the scheme.
