Dáil debates
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Social Welfare Benefits
10:50 pm
Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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52. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the processing times for carer's allowance applications; the sequential processing time for applications sent for review by applicants, and refusals that are under appeals by applicants (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46638/23]
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I ask the Minister for the processing times for carer's allowance applications, the sequential processing time for applications sent for review by applicants and the refusals that are under appeal by applicants. I am particularly interested in her response regarding the Department's frequent refusal of applications from individuals who serve as full-time carers for those struggling with acute depression and suicidal tendencies. Will the Minister make a statement on this?
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government acknowledges the crucial role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. To support carers, I announced a number of measures in budget 2024. These include the €400 cost-of-living lump sum payment which will be paid in November, and the €12 increase in the maximum rate of the carers allowance and the carers benefit from January 2024, with proportionate increases for people getting a reduced weekly rate. From January 2024, there will also be a €10 increase to the domiciliary care allowance payment and weekly rates of qualified child payments will increase by €4 in January 2024, bringing them to €54 for those aged 12 and over and €46 for those aged under 12. There will be a €100 cost-of-living lump sum for people getting an increase for a qualified child; a Christmas bonus double payment to be paid in December; and a January cost-of-living bonus for people getting a weekly social welfare payment, to be paid in 2024. Furthermore, as a result of budget 2024, the weekly income disregard will increase from €350 to €450 for a single person, and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse or partner. Carer's allowance disregards continue to be the highest income disregards in the entire social welfare system.
My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all people and ensuring that applications and appeals are processed as quickly as possible. Carer's allowance applications are processed very efficiently. The current average time for a decision is six weeks, compared with an average of 14 weeks in 2019. The target of having 75% of new applications decided within ten weeks is consistently met, with almost 90% of applications meeting this target.
With an increased number of new applications received and decided over the last 12 months, there has been a corresponding increase in the volume of requests for reviews. Currently, the average time to process a review is five weeks. I assure the Deputy that the Department's medical assessors give thorough consideration to all conditions that require care, including those involving suicidal tenancies.
In any year, approximately 1% of decisions taken by the Department are appealed. The Department endeavours to ensure these cases are dealt with as quickly as possible. The average processing time for carer's allowance appeals is 16 weeks and this reflects the fact that people very often submit new and additional information with the appeal.
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. I accept that all of the budgetary measures have been put in place. I refer, however, to the time it takes for carer's allowance applications to be processed. This is a very acute issue for somebody who gives up work to care for someone at home. This might happen suddenly if there is no other choice, especially when a member of the family is experiencing depression and the carer has to be with him or her full time. Carers are often asked to apply for supplementary welfare while they are waiting for a decision. I have seen cases where the whole process, from application through to review and appeal, has taken 25 or 26 weeks. I assume that where an appeal is successful, the applicant is paid from the date of the application. However, there are people living under very serious financial constraints while they are waiting for a decision. They may have no choice but to give up work or to cut back on their work hours to provide care and they then rely on a process that seems to be very slow.
I thank Deputy Canney. No more than they go to his office, people who have made applications also come to my constituency office. There are times when people make applications that not all of the information is provided. This is probably the main reason for delays, to be honest. I have spoken to officials about this. They say that if all of the information is in, and all of the necessary documentation has been completed by the doctor and whatever else, the application can be processed very quickly. As I said earlier, the current average time for a decision is six weeks. It has to be processed and, as Deputy Canney said, people can get the supplementary welfare allowance until such time as it is processed. It is important to state that the payment is backdated from the first day it is sought.
To improve the speed of the appeals process I published a draft set of new appeals regulations, including regulations setting maximum time limits for responses from the Department. I did this earlier this year. The chief appeals officer is reviewing the feedback from the consultation. I expect to give effect to the new regulations shortly. The benefit of this is that the time taken to process appeals should be significantly improved.
11:00 pm
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I welcome the review and I hope it will be implemented. Perhaps the Minister will outline what she sees as a reasonable timeframe for each decision to be made. Something else that happens is that the appeals office states it is waiting for documentation to come from the Department. I and other Deputies, including Deputy Lowry, are working on cases in the process with long waiting times. It is not always down to the paperwork not being fully there. In many cases it is just not getting through the system quickly enough.
The issue with supplementary welfare is that if somebody has been working and gives up work they may have income in that year so they will not get a supplementary welfare payment. It is important that we try to put in place timescales for decisions to be made. Where additional information is required there should be a timeframe once it is submitted. I know there has been an increase in applications and I know it is serious but carers and people who give up work to care full-time for people at home need to be treated with urgency and as a priority.
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Canney. Of course I understand it is a big step for anybody to take and it is not easy. In recent years one of the factors impacting processing times is the tendency for some people to submit claims early, before all of the required documentation is ready. This is in order to establish an entitlement date. When the application is made that is the beginning. People get the application in as quickly as possible and I understand why. However, it does prolong the processing time as the Department must write out and await receipt of the full documentation.
Where any scheme area experiences delay all possible steps are taken to improve the processing times. This includes the assignment of additional resources where available and the review of business processes to ensure the efficient processing of applications. A new IT system is being developed and this will also be deployed in the appeals office with a view to automating the exchange of information between it and the Department. This should improve the speed. The waiting times have reduced considerably but, like everything in life, we want it quicker and quicker. I understand why people want their payments.