Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State will be aware of the domiciliary care allowance, DCA, system from her constituency and ministerial work. Last year, 403 reviews were carried out on individual DCA payments. Between September 2011 and March 2012, 213 reviews resulted in the withdrawal of the payment. DCA is a gateway payment and, therefore, its withdrawal quickly precipitates the loss of carer's allowance and associated benefits. The review process can result in significant financial loss to families with special needs children. The withdrawal of DCA and, for instance, the respite care grant means an automatic loss of €5,408 per annum. In other cases, carer's allowance is also lost and that can be the principal social welfare payment of a household. It is vital that the review process is fair and, currently, that is far from the case. I have debated this with the Minister for Social Protection on a number of occasions and some progress has been made.

Parents are not given sufficient notice of the review to gather supporting documentation from consultants, therapists etc, which is necessary to re-establish successfully their eligibility for the payment. They have received letters in a number of cases giving them only three weeks notice of a review. I suggested to the departmental officials responsible for information technology and the Minister at a joint committee meeting that an automatic notice of review should be sent six months in advance. Following my intervention, I was delighted the Minister said she would consider extending the notice period to two or three months. What is the updated position? Has that happened?

A desk review of documentation can result in the cessation of payment. When we debated this, I proposed to the Minister that no payment should be stopped without the Department first meeting the claimant and affording him or her the opportunity of an oral hearing, given the crisis that can result from the withdrawal of payment. Has that policy change been implemented?

Since the last time I debated the issue with the Minister, the position has worsened. It has come to my attention that due to a backlog of reviews in the Department, as opposed to in the social welfare appeals office, a number of DCA payments were cut off before the desk review had been conducted at all. For example, a parent has been written to and told a review would take place, has submitted the forms and all the supporting documents, all of which are on time. When the conclusion of the notice period arrives, however, their payment is cut off because no decision has been made. It seems to be an automatic cut-off, which is wrong in the extreme. Does the Minister of State agree this is of great concern and seems to suggest the overriding concern of the Department is cost saving rather than the needs of the disabled children?

At the very least, will the Minister ensure no payment is cut off in advance of the completion of the review? It is not good enough to say, "We will find in favour whenever we get around to the review and we will backdate it". This causes hardship and the supplementary welfare allowance scheme does not cover the full loss. We must remember we are dealing with a child of significant needs in the first instance.

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