Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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609. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason for the long delays for processing applications, reviews and appeals within the domiciliary care allowance and disability allowance sections of her Department; her plans to rectify the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31423/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Processing times for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) applications are currently not meeting the target of having 70% of applications processed within 15 weeks. At present it is taking 20 weeks on average to finalise an application. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the extended time required to process claims.

Firstly, there is a significant increase in the volume of applications being received. The numbers applying for DCA have increased significantly since 2009, when the Department took over administration of the scheme from the HSE. The year on year increase in volumes over recent years has consistently been in the 15-20% range due to an increase in population and more awareness of the scheme. Over 1,000 claims were received in May, whereas the average would have been 400 per month a few years ago.

Secondly, following a High Court ruling in 2016, there is now a need for the Department’s medical assessors to provide the deciding officer with a more detailed opinion on the child’s eligibility for the scheme and for the deciding officer in turn to provide more detailed reasons for their decision when communicating this to the customer. These factors have resulted in the time taken to finalise applications increasing significantly and as a result the numbers being processed have reduced and the timescale to finalise each application has increased.

Due to the priority being given to new applications, processing times for decision review requests and appeals are also affected at this time . However, the number of both review requests and appeals received has fallen in recent years due to the increase in applications awarded at initial decision stage, which is currently 75% of first time applications.

In response to the current situation, additional deciding officers have been assigned to the scheme and the extra processing capacity should allow for an improvement in processing times. The position continues to be monitored closely.

In relation to disability allowance (DA), the average time taken to process a new application in May 2017 was 12 weeks. The processing times target for the DA scheme is to have 75% of new applications decided within 12 weeks and processing times have been consistent so far in 2017. The number of new applications awaiting a decision has decreased slightly since the start of the year from 5,947 to 5,863 currently. The number of DA appeals awaiting decision has also decreased, with 1,367 awaiting decision at the end of 2016, compared to 1,637 at the start of the year.

When deciding entitlement to disability allowance, a deciding officer is required to consider the medical conditionality and the habitual residence condition, in addition to the means condition. The failure of applicants to fully complete the application form and/or provide relevant supporting documentation, in respect of either their medical condition or their means, can contribute to delay in the processing of their application.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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610. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when an application for domiciliary allowance by a person (details supplied) will be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31488/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 10^thFebruary 2017. Due to the increased volume of applications currently being received, it can currently take in excess of 20 weeks to process an application for DCA. The application will be examined by a Deciding Officer shortly and the decision notified as soon as possible.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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611. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average wait times in processing domiciliary care allowance applications; if she has satisfied herself with the length of time it is taking for a decision to be made; and if she will allocate extra resources to the section in order to process the applications in a more timely manner. [31530/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Processing times for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) are currently not meeting the target of having 70% of applications processed within 15 weeks. At present it is taking 20 weeks on average to finalise an application. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the extended time required to process claims.

Firstly, there is a significant increase in the volume of applications being received. The numbers applying for DCA have increased significantly since 2009, when the Department took over administration of the scheme from the HSE. The increase in volume year on year has been between 15% and 20% in recent years, due to an increase in population and more awareness of the scheme. Over 1,000 claims were received in May, whereas the average would have been 400 per month a few years ago.

Secondly, following a High Court ruling in 2016, there is now a need for the Department’s medical assessors to provide the deciding officer with a more detailed opinion on the child’s eligibility for the scheme and for the deciding officer in turn to provide more detailed reasons for their decision when communicating this to the customer. These factors have resulted in the time taken to finalise applications increasing significantly and as a result the numbers being processed have reduced and the timescale to finalise each application has increased.

In response to the current situation, additional deciding officers have been assigned to the scheme. This extra processing capacity should allow for an improvement in processing times. The position will continue to be closely monitored.