Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2019
603. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for the delay in a decision being made on a carer's allowance application by a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41920/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraCarer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.
My 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. 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 confirm that my department received an application for carer’s allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 14 June 2019.
Additional information in relation to the person’s application was requested by a deciding officer on 10 October 2019.
Once the information is received the application will be processed without delay and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy .
