Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 May 2017
77. Deputy Bobby Aylward asked the Minister for Social Protection the average waiting time for decisions on carer's allowance and domiciliary care allowance applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25765/17]
View answerCarer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has a disability such that they require that level of care.
This means that the care recipient requires from another person continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in connection with normal bodily functions or continual supervision in order to avoid being a danger to him/herself and is likely to require such full-time care for at least 12 months.
Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly payment to the parent/guardian of a child, aged under 16 with a disability so severe that the child requires care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be provided to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living, and s/he must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months.
My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
The current processing times for CA applications is 12 weeks and for DCA applications is 16 weeks. Both schemes have seen a considerable increase in applications in recent years. Applications for CA in 2016 were 20% higher than in 2015, while applications for DCA were 16% higher than in 2015. These increases, together with the need to introduce new revised decision making processes in early 2014, to demonstrate compliance with a High Court decision, have impacted on the volumes of applications processed within the set target.
Reducing these waiting times is a priority for my Department and we are working hard to make this happen. As part of its programme of service delivery modernisation, a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented by my Department in recent years. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed to ensure that processing capability is maximised.
In addition, staffing needs are regularly reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources. Where additional staffing is deployed to a scheme, there is a time-lag involved while those staff are trained and build up expertise. My Department has seen a significant reduction in average CA processing times from 22 weeks at the end of May 2016 to 12 weeks at the end of April 2017 and expects the processing times for both schemes to reduce further over the next few months, as recently assigned staff get up to speed with the work involved in claim processing.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
