Domiciliary Care Allowance has a target of deciding 90% of new claims within 10 weeks of receipt. The average processing time for new applications in 2020 was 8 weeks and this is still being achieved to date in 2021. Since April 2020, the monthly target of deciding 90% of claims within 10 weeks has been achieved every month, with the latest figures for February 2021 showing that 96% of claims were decided within the 10 week target timeframe.
Processing times can vary depending on the volume of applications received, availability of resources and complexity of individual cases. All of these factors are continuously monitored to ensure targets are achieved.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.