Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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29. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications for disability allowance and-or carer's allowance received in the past six months in respect of children whose parents were previously deemed eligible for domiciliary care allowance; the number approved, rejected or outstanding; the extent to which individual medical circumstances were borne in mind initially; the number of instances whereby eligibility was restored in respect of both carer's and disability allowance; the numbers still outstanding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47049/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The specific statistics requested by the Deputy are not routinely maintained by the Department. However, a recent query of system data shows that in the past 6 months (June to November 2014) 1,382 children whose parents were previously deemed eligible for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) have turned 16 and their DCA subsequently ceased.

Of these 1,382 children, 458 have applied for disability allowance (DA) up to the end of November 2014. Of these 458 applications, 127 have been awarded DA, 260 have been disallowed, while 71 are awaiting decision.

In relation to carer's allowance (CA), 270 of the 1,382 CA schemes in payment have been stopped following review. The remaining 1,112 cases remain in payment although the review process may be ongoing in some of these cases.

The qualifying conditions for the respective schemes are set out in legislation and regulations specific to each scheme and are not the same. The Department must ensure that the relevant qualifying conditions for each scheme are satisfied.

The review of the continued entitlement of a former DCA recipient (parent/guardian) to CA is not dependent in any way on whether the child who turns 16 years either claims or is entitled to DA. Also, it is important to note that where CA claims for former DCA recipients are being reviewed upon a child reaching 16, the claims remain in payment while the review is underway, even if the child has already reached 16.

Upon the child reaching 16 years, DCA is no longer payable. It is open for the child to apply for disability allowance (DA). In respect of CA claims for children under 16, the care requirement for the care recipient are deemed to be satisfied where DCA is in payment in respect of that child. CA must be reviewed once a care recipient reaches 16 years in order to ensure that the care requirement of the child meets the statutory conditions for receipt of CA.

There has been a long-standing process to notify DCA recipients at least 6 months in advance that DCA will stop when the child reaches 16 and that continued entitlement to CA would be reviewed. The purpose of that communication is to ensure that parents are aware of what is going to happen, their future options and to give them time to gather the necessary information. That communication also draws the attention of the parent to the potential eligibility of the child for DA.

The Department is reviewing its communications with parents who are in receipt of both domiciliary care allowance (DCA) and carer's allowance (CA) for children who are reaching 16 years, to further emphasise to the parent the importance of supplying sufficiently detailed information from the child's doctor(s) and other healthcare professionals, schools etc to the Department at the outset. The notification will also state the conditions which need to be met in relation to CA (which are not the same as those for receipt of DCA). It is hoped that this will reduce the number of CA cases that are stopped at first instance but subsequently reinstated upon review of additional information supplied.