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Social Welfare Benefits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 May 2012

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Ceisteanna (315, 316, 317)

Barry Cowen

Ceist:

382 Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of scheduled reviews of domiciliary care allowance recipients that were undertaken in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21751/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Department has been accepting new claims for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) since 1st April 2009. Statistics relating to the allowance for the period prior to April 2009 are a matter for the HSE, the previous administrators of the scheme. Scheduled reviews, on the recommendation of the medical assessor, are based on the prognosis of the child's disability and how their care needs may change over time.

The total number of scheduled reviews undertaken in 2010, 2011 and 2012 (to date), based on recommendations from medical advisors, are set out in the table below. As responsibility for the Allowance only transferred to this Department from the HSE in April 2009 and the shortest review period is 12 months, the first review was not carried out until mid 2010.

Year

Reviews

Still Eligible

Not Eligible

Pending

2010

134

80

54

0

2011

403

176

224

3

2012 (to date)

506

86

57

363

Barry Cowen

Ceist:

383 Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of domiciliary care allowance who have lost their allowance in 2012; the total number of recipients currently; the total number of recipients in November 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21752/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Individual DCA cases are routinely reviewed to ensure that the conditions for receipt of the payment continue to be met. Reviews are scheduled based on the recommendation of the medical assessor (MA) when the application is initially processed, based on the potential for the care needs of the child to change over time. The scheduling of reviews is not based on the particular disability of the child but on the potential for change to their care needs.

Reviews are initiated with the parent/guardian being asked to complete a "review of medical criteria form", which also requires medical input from the child's GP. The parent returns this form together with any additional recent reports of ongoing medical or therapeutic services the child may be receiving. This information is then sent for review by a medical assessor who will provide an opinion to the deciding officer on whether the child continues to meet the medical criteria for receipt of the payment.

The revised decision of the deciding officer is communicated to the customer in writing and if they are not in agreement with the outcome they have the option to appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. Any new or additional information received after the issue of the revised decision and before the appeal is heard, is further assessed by a different medical assessor. In this way, the review process affords parents/guardians every opportunity to provide additional information from any source they wish and to have this information assessed at an early stage with payment restored, where necessary, without the necessity of an appeal hearing.

In response to recent customer requests, the timeframe for the return of the completed review form has been extended from 21 to 60 days and the customer will also be advised at initial award stage of their scheduled review date, with notification issuing 2-3 months before that date. This will allow parents to have any documentation they may wish to submit available in advance of the review date.

A total of 129 domiciliary care allowance recipients who were found to no longer satisfy the medical criteria have had their allowance stopped to date in 2012. On 31st March 2012, there were 24,176 customers in receipt of the allowance in respect of 25,966 children. This compares to 24,048 customers who were in receipt of the allowance in respect of 25,873 children on 30th November 2011.

Michael Creed

Ceist:

384 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will reconsider an application for domiciliary care allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork in view of a recent diagnosis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21774/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received on 30th March 2012. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department's Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Upon receipt of this opinion, a decision will issue to the customer. The Deputy should note that, currently, it can take up to 8 weeks to process a DCA application.

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