Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 July 2022
145. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Minister for Social Protection the length of time that it takes to process an application for carer’s allowance; the steps, if any, that are being taken to make the assessments required for the application more efficient; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34027/22]
View answerMy department understands the many pressures faced by claimants and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. I am pleased to report that claim processing is up to date, with processing targets met, or exceeded, on average for all the main scheme areas, including Carer’s Allowance (CA).The target processing time for Carer's Allowance is to process 75% of new claims within 11 weeks. At the end of May 2022, 92% of applications were completed within the expected timeframe. The average time taken to award a Carer's Allowance claim from January 2022 to May 2022 was 4 weeks. The average time to award a new claim increased to 6 weeks during May 2022, mainly due to additional volumes of applications received during that period. My officials are working to deal with these additional claims and to reduce waiting times.Over the past 2 years, substantial improvements in processing performance was achieved across most schemes but especially in the carers and disability areas where claims are now consistently processed within 4 to 5 weeks, compared with 14 weeks in 2019.
My Department is committed to providing a quality service, ensuring that claims are processed as quickly as possible. Any backlogs arising are addressed without delay through a range of measures including system changes and the allocation of additional resources where needed.
I hope that clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
