Departmental Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2023

Tuesday, 31 January 2023

Ceisteanna (488)

Thomas Pringle

Ceist:

488. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications processed by her Department for carers allowance for the period 2015 to 2022, in tabular form, disaggregated by year of application, county of residence of claimant; the number of applications where further inquiries were made by way of correspondence with the claimant; the number of applications where further inquiries were made by way of a social welfare inspector’s report; the number of applications refused; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4261/23]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Social Protection

Historic information on the number of applications received on a county basis and the number of applications where further information was requested is not available.

The following table provides a breakdown by year of applications received, awarded and rejected for the period 2015 to 2022.

Carer's Allowance	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Registered Claims	18,929	22,722	23,800	20,208	19,402	18,774	19,648	22,841
Awarded Claims	14,378	19,308	17,290	17,242	16,669	17,495	14,804	14,921
Rejected Claims	7,920	1,114	8,599	9,291	8,811	10,495	9,134	10,115

In many cases, more than one decision may be made where a customer provides further information and/or seeks a review of a decision.  It is important that anyone applying for Carer's Allowance should provide as much information as possible when initially submitting their claim.

The following table provides a breakdown by year of new Carer's Allowance applications which were referred to Social Welfare Inspectors for the period 2017 to 2022.  Information prior to 2017 is unavailable.

New claim SWI investigations created
2022	4,024
2021	2,665
2020	1,143
2019	2,854
2018	2,768
2017	3,796

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.