Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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101. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if the number of refusals of applications for a carer's allowance has increased due to the changes in the Social Welfare Act 2014 which allowed deciding officers to overrule medical evidence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40140/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The table below shows the numbers of CA refusals from 2010 to 2014 and since the introduction of the Act in May 2015:

Carer's allowance (CA) is a social assistance payment, payable to a person who satisfies a means test and who is providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person (care recipient) who has a disability such that they require that level of care.

Under the Social Welfare Acts every question concerning entitlement to CA, including questions relating to the requirement of a care recipient for full-time care, is decided by a deciding officer (DO). The Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015, inter-alia, changed the provision that the nature and extent of the person’s disability be certified by a registered medical practitioner. The reason for this was to remove any doubt as to the statutory role of the DO as deciding officer in relation to the requirement of a care recipient for full-time care.

In order to determine the requirement of a care recipient for full time care, the opinion of a medical assessor (MA) may be sought by the DO.Where such an opinion is sought by the DO, then s/he shall have regard to that opinion in making their decision. The DO weighs up all the evidence available, including the opinion of the MA where sought, in order to reach their decision.

It should be noted that where CA applications are refused, it can be as a result of the applicant not satisfying any one of the relevant criteria and not solely where it is decided that the care recipient does not require full-time care. As can be seen from the statistics provided above, there has been no change in the percentages of refusals of CA since the changes introduced in the 2015 Act, it remains consistent with that of other years.