Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019
1073. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason there was a delay in receiving files from the domiciliary care allowance, DCA, section and for the appeal to be expedited in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1006/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from this lady on the 16th July 2015. This application satisfied the qualifying conditions for the allowance and a letter issued on the 16th October 2015 advising of the decision to award the allowance from the 1st August 2015, the month following receipt of the application, as provided for under the relevant legislation.
The person concerned requested a review of the date of award on three occasions; in November 2015, October 2016 and again in May 2017. In order for backdating to be considered, it is required that good cause can be demonstrated for the delay in submitting an application. If good cause is demonstrated the application can be backdated by a maximum of 6 months. As no new evidence was submitted for consideration on any of these review requests the decision remained unchanged and she was notified in writing of this on each occasion.
An appeal of the date of award of the allowance was registered by the Social Welfare Appeals Office on the 21st August 2018. As part of the appeals process the decision was again reviewed by a deciding officer. The deciding officer found that no new evidence was submitted in relation to the delay in submitting the original application. As a result the decision remained unchanged and the person concerned was notified in writing of this decision on the 4th December 2018. An appeal submission was subsequently prepared and forwarded to the Social Welfare Appeals Office on the 20th December 2018.
Reviews associated with an appeal currently take twelve weeks to process and are dealt with in date of receipt order. Where a review is unsuccessful, a file is then prepared for transmission to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
