Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 November 2018
211. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated time for a payment to be awarded for a carer's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49850/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy 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.
In general, social welfare schemes with a number of complex qualifying conditions can take longer to process. This is compounded if the documentary evidence provided at initial application stage is incomplete or insufficient; this is often the case with carer’s allowance applications.
Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested payment, made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that they require that level of care. An increased payment can be made where full-time care is being provided to two people.
The average waiting time in October for new CA applications was 17 weeks. Staff have recently been re-assigned to the CA area to work on claims processing and this should lead to a reduction in processing times.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
