Written answers

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Department of Social Protection

Social Welfare Code

9:00 pm

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider reviewing the stopped payments in 198 cases of parents caring for a child with a disability who were receiving domiciliary care allowance; in respect of those stopped payments, if visits were made to parents to assess the needs of the child and the level of attention needed as part of the review process; if she will reconsider the process under which people no longer in receipt of domiciliary care allowance are no longer eligible for carer's allowance and respite care grant, as this puts parents and carers in a vulnerable financial situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14532/12]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly payment to the parent/guardian of a child with a disability so severe that the child requires care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be provided to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months.

In advance of the transfer of the scheme from the HSE to this Department in 2009, an Expert Medical Group was established to agree a set of consistent and objective guidelines for use nationally in determining the eligibility of children for the scheme. The Group considered that the most appropriate way for the Department to conduct assessments for medical eligibility was by way of desk assessment of the evidence submitted by the claimant, rather than by way of individual examination by the Department's Medical Assessors, as they are not involved in the treatment of the child.

The application process operated by the Department involves the submission of a detailed statement by the parent or guardian of the child; a detailed statement by the child's General Practitioner; and any other relevant evidence from qualified experts who have examined the child that the applicant may wish to submit.

This evidence is assessed by designated Departmental Medical Assessors who are qualified medical doctors with a minimum of 6 years experience and who have received special training in the area of child disability assessment.

Individual DCA cases are routinely reviewed to ensure that the conditions for receipt of the payment continue to be met. Reviews are initiated with the parent/guardian being asked to complete a "review of medical criteria form", which also requires medical input from the child's GP. The parent returns this form together with any additional recent reports of on-going medical or therapeutic services the child may be receiving. This information is then sent for review by a medical assessor who will provide an opinion to the deciding officer on whether the child continues to meet the medical criteria for receipt of the payment.

The decision of the deciding officer is communicated to the customer in writing and if they are not in agreement with the outcome, they have the option to appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. Any new or additional information received after the issue of the revised decision and before the appeal is heard, is further assessed by a medical assessor. In this way, the review process affords parents/guardians every opportunity to provide additional information from any source they wish and to have this information assessed at an early stage with payment restored, where necessary, without the necessity of an appeal hearing.

Carers allowance in respect of children under the age of 16 years can be paid if the qualifying conditions are met. One of the conditions is that that DCA is in payment for the child. Respite care grant is paid to persons who meet the qualifying conditions or are in receipt of either Carers allowance or DCA.

Finally, I want to assure the Deputy that my Department is committed to ensuring that those children who meet the conditions for the DCA scheme will continue to receive the payment.

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