Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the steps he has taken or proposes to take to restore the previously applied criteria for qualification for domiciliary care, respite grant, carer's allowance and other such allowances in view of the increased level of rejection of such applications notwithstanding the need; if his attention has been drawn to the large number of cases now on appeal for the second time or more; if his further attention has been drawn to the hardship and anxiety caused to families by such delays which in turn contribute to a backlog resulting in increased administrative costs; if he will outline the steps he proposes to take to address these issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27880/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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There have been no changes to the criteria for qualification in respect of the domiciliary care allowance (DCA) , the respite care grant (RCG) or the carer's allowance (CA).

The DCA scheme transferred from the HSE to this Department, under the CORE functions initiative to reallocate certain functions between Departments and Agencies. This transfer took place in two stages. From April 2009 new claims have been processed by this Department; from 1st September claims previously paid by the HSE became the responsibility of this Department. Some 25,000 children are currently in receipt of DCA.

Although the qualifying conditions are the same now as they were previously in the HSE, when the DCA scheme was administered by the HSE, it was done on a local area basis, without legislation, and with significant variations in decisions between HSE areas. The Department is able to administer the scheme in a more consistent manner.

To date the Department has received 4500 claims for DCA, of which 4330 have been decided, with 37 % allowed. 1085 appeals have been received, 68 have been decided to date, with 13 allowed. The number of appeals allowed is in the order of 20%. DCA claims are on average decided with 7 weeks in over 85% of cases.

As regards the carer's allowance , in 2009 16,574 new claims were received and 5776 rejected in the year. (i.e. 34.8% rejection rate). In 2010 to date 8,959 new claims have been received and 3,153 rejected (i.e. 35% rejection rate). There has been almost the same level of rejections in both years. In 2009 there were 1,303 appeals received. 244 appeals were allowed (18.7%); 48 appeals (3.7%) were partly allowed. 570 cases (43.7%) were disallowed and 53 cases (4.1%) were withdrawn. If the appeal includes new additional information the case is re-examined by the deciding officer. In 2009 388 cases (29.8% of appeals) were revised on the basis of new information. The average time to decide a claim for CA is currently 9 weeks. There are currently 3,608 claims on hands for decision.

Persons in receipt of the CA and DCA receive the respite care grant (RCG) automatically on the first Thursday of June without any additional application. A smaller number of people not in receipt of CA or DCA can apply separately for RCG if they are providing full time care. Of these the rejection rate is around 20%. This figure has been consistent for a number of years.

Entitlement to carer's allowance, domiciliary care allowance and respite care grant is based on satisfying medical, means and residency conditions. In determining entitlement to the allowance there are, in certain cases, unavoidable time lags involved in making the necessary investigations and enquiries to enable accurate decisions to be made. Delays can also arise if people applying for the allowance are not in a position to supply all the necessary information in support of their claim.

The staff and other resources available to the Department are regularly reviewed having regard to the workload arising and other competing demands. The Department monitors available resources against workload on an ongoing basis with a view to ensuring optimum processing times for claims.

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 80: To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans, if any, to formalise the system of allocating financial support in the event of extreme weather conditions. [28006/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The system of allocating financial support in the event of extreme weather conditions is already formalised. Financial support for people who have suffered as a result of an emergency event, including extreme weather events is normally addressed through the exceptional and urgent needs payment provisions of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.

Under the legislation governing the scheme, the HSE may make a single payment to meet an exceptional need to people on social welfare or health board payments. This is a once-off payment to meet an unforeseen or special need that cannot be met from a person's basic income. Assistance in the form of an urgent needs payment can be also made to persons who would not normally be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance, to assist, for example in cases of an extreme weather event with immediate needs, such as food, clothing, fuel, household goods and shelter. Assistance can be provided to people affected in cash or in kind. There is no automatic entitlement to these payments. Each application is determined on the particular circumstances of the case.

Where a particular event has caused loss and damage to a large number of people on a wide-spread scale and the support required is greater than can be coped with by the usual support mechanisms then humanitarian assistance is considered by the Government. Humanitarian assistance is designed to provide hardship alleviation assistance, as opposed to compensation, to people affected by an emergency event who are not covered by insurance and is based on an income test.

The most recent extreme weather event which led to the Government activating the humanitarian assistance system occurred in November 2009.

The HSE's Community Welfare Service has been providing support to households since this flooding occurred. Up to the 21st May 2010 they had made over 3,000 payments to 1,282 individuals to the value of €1.3million throughout the country. The largest payment to an individual was in excess of €25,000.

Most of these payments have been in respect of immediate needs such as clothing, food, bedding and emergency accommodation needs. Payments have also been made in respect of essential household items such as carpets, flooring, furniture and white goods. Payments in respect of longer-term needs, such as meeting the cost of repairing homes and making them habitable again, take somewhat longer as homeowners must first establish the cost of repair. As homeowners establish the cost of repair by securing builders' estimates, the extent of the loss is verified, usually by a loss assessor in cases where significant amounts are claimed, and details of the amounts that can be provided under the humanitarian assistance scheme are then sent to the homeowners in question. The HSE are currently in the process of discharging these claims. I am satisfied that the arrangements have worked well.