Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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250. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that persons are waiting approximately 19 weeks for a decision to be made on their carer's allowance application; her target time for decisions on applications for carer's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21856/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.

The target processing time for the carer’s allowance scheme is to award 70% of new claims within 12 weeks. This can be challenging because of the complexities of the application process and the amount of information needed. However my Department recognises that the current wait time must be improved and is working to achieve this. At the end of April 2018 the average waiting time for new carer's allowance (CA) applications was 18 weeks which was an improvement on the March figure of 19 weeks.

The number of applications for CA has increased by 26% since 2015.

In general, social welfare schemes with a number of complex qualifying conditions can take longer to process. Before a decision can be made on entitlement to carer’s allowance, evidence must be provided in respect of the care recipient’s care requirement, the level of care the carer provides and the carer’s means.

Staff resources have been re-assigned within the CA area to work on claims processing and a redesigned application form will be available shortly. This new form will allow carers to provide more information on the type and level of care they provide, with an aim to providing Deciding Officers with the information they need to expedite decisions on entitlement.

I expect the processing times in the carer’s allowance area to show improvement over the coming months as a result of these changes.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.