There are currently 24,101 persons in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance in (DCA) in respect of 25,914 children. A breakdown of the persons in receipt of the allowance on a county basis is not available.
DCA cases are routinely reviewed to ensure that the conditions for receipt of the payment continue to be met. Cases are reviewed based on either:
A scheduled review based on the recommendation of the medical assessor when the claim is initially processed; or
On the basis of information received about a change of circumstances which potentially affects the continued entitlement of a case already in payment.
Scheduled reviews, on the recommendation of the medical assessor, are based on the prognosis of the child's disability and how their condition may improve over time.
The review interval will vary from 12 months in cases where the child's disability is likely to improve significantly in the short-term, to a 5 or 10 years review date if the child's condition is likely to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future. In circumstances where a child has a lifelong disability that is unlikely to improve by any significant degree, a "do not review again" status may be used.
The total number of scheduled reviews undertaken in 2010 and 2011, based on recommendations from medical advisors are set out in the following table. As the shortest review interval is 12 months, the first review was not carried out until mid-2010, given that responsibility for the Allowance transferred to the Department in April 2009.
Year
|
Reviews
|
Still Eligible
|
Not Eligible
|
Pending
|
2010
|
134
|
80
|
54
|
0
|
2011
|
403
|
164
|
187
|
52
|
Customers who are reviewed are asked to provide relevant up-to-date medical evidence and details of the extra care needs of their child. This information is assessed by a medical advisor and a decision is made based on their medical opinion.
The main reason that a customer is disallowed DCA following a review is that the child no longer satisfies the medical criteria for the allowance. Where payment is stopped as a result of a review, the customer is invited to submit any further information they may wish to have considered and that information will be further examined and/or they may appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals office.