Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 March 2022
87. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection if consideration has been given to extending the age for qualification for the domiciliary care allowance from 16 to 18 years of age and providing those in receipt of the allowance with a less bureaucratic pathway to disability allowance. [16762/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraDomiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly payment for parents caring for a child with a severe disability in their own home.
Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) ceases to be payable when a child reaches age 16 years. Disability Allowance (DA) can then be paid from age 16 if the qualifying conditions for that scheme are met, even if the child is in fulltime education.
Following a commitment made in the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for people with disabilities 2015 -2024, the “Make Work Pay for People with Disabilities” (MWP) report was published. The report undertook to better identify how people with disabilities could be supported to achieve their employment ambitions. A number of MWP report recommendations focused on the need to support young adults through education, training and social inclusion according to their capacity, and to change the qualifying age for disability allowance from 16 to 18 years of age while leaving Domiciliary Care allowance in payment where applicable to 18 years of age.
An extensive national consultation process was organised to engage people with disabilities, parents of children with disabilities, and sectoral representatives to seek their views on the specific recommendations in the report. A consultation report was published in December 2021.
Consideration of the most appropriate measures to be taken is continuing. It is imperative when deciding on any changes to the age limits for the relevant schemes that such changes have a positive effect on those in receipt of the payments and that any unintended negative consequences. are avoided.
Disability Allowance and Domiciliary Care Allowance are different schemes with different qualifying criteria and a separate decision making process is required. The application form for DA applicants has recently been reviewed and a very significant reduction in the size of the form has been implemented. However, the scheme has a number of eligibility criteria and information about all of these has to be captured on the form in order for the Deciding Officer to be able to make an informed decision on each application. The current average processing times for Disability Allowance is 5 weeks.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
