Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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1542. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for the delay in processing a domiciliary care allowance application by a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36054/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department is currently experiencing delays in the processing of Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) claims. We are extremely sorry for any worry or concern this may cause to parents/guardians of children with additional care needs. At present it is taking 20 weeks on average to finalise an application. Applications are processed in date of receipt order. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the extended time required to process claims;

First, 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, along with a further 700 in June; 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

Corrective actions are being taken, with additional deciding officers recently assigned to work on the scheme. Once these deciding officers become fully operational, the increase in claim processing capacity should allow for an improvement in processing times.

An application for DCA in respect of this child was received in the Department on the 29th March. While it is not feasible to provide an exact date of when a particular application will be decided, the applications currently being finalised were received in mid-February 2017. The application will be considered by a Deciding Officer and a decision notified as soon as possible.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.