Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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73. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which applications for carer's allowance are approved or disallowed in the first instance; the extent to which such cases are reversed on appeal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46829/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. An application for CA can be disallowed because one or more of the qualifying conditions are not satisfied or because insufficient evidence is provided at application stage to establish the full-time care and attention needs of the cared for person or the means of the applicant.

During 2016, 31,881 CA applications were processed. Of these, 19,308 were allowed and 12,573 were disallowed or withdrawn by the applicant. Each decision notice offered the recipient a right of review and appeal.

When a person appeals a decision, the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) who are independent of the Department, send a notice of the appeal to the Department requesting a statement from the deciding officer showing the extent to which the facts and contentions advanced by the appellant are admitted or disputed.

At that stage a different deciding officer reviews in full the original decision which is under appeal and any additional statement or evidence provided as part of the appeal. It is quite often the case that additional information and evidence is supplied by the appellant at this stage, which may require further investigation by a Social Welfare Inspector or an opinion by a Medical Assessor.

This review can sometimes result in a revised decision by the deciding officer which means an appeal is no longer required. In 2016, 815 such cases were successful on review, resulting in the withdrawal of the appeal. Of cases examined by the SWAO in 2016, 1,375 were allowed, 145 were partially allowed and 1,237 were disallowed.