Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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33. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide details of the length of time it takes to process a new carer's allowance claim, and the length of time to process claims awarded after a review and-or an appeal process following initial disallowance. [33142/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department assists carers by providing a range of income supports. These include carer's allowance (CA), carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance and respite care grant (RCG). €822 million is provided for these payments in 2015.

CA is the main income support. Since 2004 the number of people in receipt of CA has increased from over 23,000, to just over 58,000 at the end of August this year - an increase in excess of 150%. Carers in receipt of most other weekly social welfare payments (such as state pension) may also receive CA at half rate. Recipients of CA also qualify for free travel and may also qualify for the household benefits package. In addition, the RCG is an annual non-means-tested payment of €1,375 made to carers by the Department. The estimated cost of the RCG, in 2015, is in excess of €124 million in respect of over 90,000 recipients of care.

The average time taken to award a new CA application is currently 17 weeks. The Department acknowledges that in recent months this has got longer and is not satisfactory and, to deal with this matter, has applied additional resources and has planned further additional resources to ensure that this average time is reduced over the remainder of 2015.

The reason for the increase in average processing time is the significant increase in new CA applications - an increase of 18% in 2014 over 2013 and a further increase of 6% in 2015 over the same period in 2014.

Where a request is made for a review of a decision on a new claim, this will take longer. The average time taken for decision reviews is not available. These requests for review generally include additional information or evidence not originally submitted for consideration.

In order to minimise processing times generally, applicants should ensure that they complete the application form fully, attach all the supporting documentation required as per the checklist provided on the application form and furnish all relevant evidence they have in relation to the medical condition and care needs of the care recipient.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office advises that the current average time taken to decide CA appeals summarily is 21.4 weeks and 27.3 weeks for oral hearings. This represents a significant improvement in appeal processing times compared to 2014, when the average times taken were 30.1 weeks and 34.4 weeks respectively for summary and oral hearing appeals. The system is flexible and accessible and allows multiple reviews and submissions of fresh evidence at all stages.For logistical reasons the process takes longer when an oral hearing is required.