Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 November 2022
457. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the considerations that her Department is giving to domiciliary care allowance applications in view of the fact that applicants are unable to obtain assessments from the children's disability network teams due to chronic service resourcing issues and lengthy waiting lists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57767/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraDomiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly allowance payable in respect of a child aged under 16, who has a severe disability and requires ongoing continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and the child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months.
While an assessment or diagnosis of a child's specific disability or condition may assist the Department's deciding officers and medical assessors to make an appropriate decision on entitlement and at the earliest date possible, eligibility for DCA is not based on the type of disability but on the resulting medical and additional care needs. The decision process that applies in the consideration of whether a child meets the conditions for receipt of DCA includes the examination of all relevant factors identified as impacting on the child's additional care needs. A completed assessment(s) from a children's disability network team or a diagnosis of a specific disability or condition does not necessarily indicate the level of care required by the child.
Applications for DCA are decided by a deciding officer on a case -by-case basis, while also considering the opinion of a Departmental medical assessor. In addition to the personal details provided on the application form (Dom Care 1), including the signed details from the applicant's GP on this form, the applicant may also provide any additional information or documentary evidence that is relevant to their application, such as medical professional report(s) or a completed assessment report from a children's disability network team (CDNT) if available, but there is no specific requirement to provide this information.
A parent/guardian should apply for DCA once they consider that their child may meet the qualifying criteria for the allowance. It is also open to an applicant to subsequently request a review of any decision and this right is not time limited. If requesting a review of a deciding officer's decision, an applicant may provide any further new information or documentary evidence that was not previously available with the initial DCA application for further consideration.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
