I confirm that the Department received an application for carer’s allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 25 January 2016. Unfortunately, the average time taken at present to decide a new application is running at 19 weeks. Additional resources have been provided to the CA section in order to improve the waiting times for new applications and they are working hard to make this happen.
This application will be processed as quickly as possible and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome. In the meantime, both the person concerned and his spouse are in receipt of a weekly social welfare support.