Marian Harkin
Question:138 Ms Harkin asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average waiting time for payment of respite care grants from date of application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34929/06]
View answerThursday, 26 October 2006
Questions (138, 139)
Written answers
The majority of respite care grants are paid to people who are in receipt of Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, Constant Attendance Allowance or prescribed Relative Allowance. In these cases, the grant is paid automatically without the beneficiaries having to make a specific application for the grant. A total of 26,909 people were paid respite care grant in these cases up to the end of August 2006.
People who are providing full-time care and attention in cases where neither Carer's Allowance nor Carer's Benefit is in payment may still qualify for Respite Care Grant by making specific application for the grant. A total of 8,174 grants have been paid so far this year in these cases. Some 5,711 of these were in respect of 2006 and a further 2,463 were paid in respect of 2005. The average time for deciding these applications for Respite Care Grant is currently just under eight weeks.
Marian Harkin
Question:139 Ms Harkin asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average waiting time for payment of carer’s allowance from date of application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34930/06]
View answerThe average time for deciding an application for carer's allowance is currently 9.53 weeks. The average in 2005 was 8.88 weeks, while the average in 2004 was 12.70 weeks. Entitlement to carer's allowance is based on an applicant satisfying medical, means and residency conditions. In determining entitlement to the allowance there are, in certain cases, unavoidable time lags involved in making the necessary investigations and enquiries to enable timely and accurate decisions to be made. Delays can also arise if persons applying for the allowance are not in a position to supply all the necessary information in support of their claim.
Many applicants for carer's allowance are already in receipt of another social welfare payment while their claim is being processed. Such payments will normally continue until entitlement to their carer's allowance is determined. There are currently 2,042 pending cases awaiting a decision, over 65% of which were received within the last eight weeks. The majority of claims currently on hands will be processed within the next ten weeks. Some 7,746 new claims were processed to a final decision up to week ending 20 October 2006. The volume of claims finalised so far this year represents a 9% increase on the average achieved in 2005 and a 17% increase on the average achieved in 2004. There are 27,000 carer's allowances in payment, compared to 25,000 at the end of 2005 and 23,000 at the end of 2004.
The staff and other resources available to my Department must be deployed to ensure good customer service, to prevent fraud and abuse of the schemes and to achieve value for money. My Department is engaged in an ongoing process to ensure that available resources are prioritised to the greatest extent possible on front line service delivery and to ensure that the best possible standard of response is provided across the range of schemes and services. The position will be kept under review to ensure that the best possible customer service continues to be provided.