Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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213. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when a decision will be made on a carer’s allowance application by a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; the current processing times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7226/19]

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 as quickly as possible.

Where any scheme area experiences delays, all possible steps are taken to improve processing times. This includes the assignment of additional resources, where available, and the review of business processes, to ensure the efficient processing of applications.

In general, social welfare schemes with a number of complex qualifying conditions can take longer to process.

Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.

To qualify for carer's allowance, the carer must show that they are habitually resident in the State, that they are providing full-time care and attention to a person who requires this level of care and that their means are less than the statutory limit.

At the end of December 2018 the average waiting time for a decision on a new carer's allowance claim was 17 weeks.

While the average processing time is still higher than I would like it to be, I expect this indicator to reduce over the coming months. Staff have been assigned to this work from other areas of the Longford Centralised Schemes Office to and this has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of claims awaiting a decision since September 2018.

An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 11 February 2019. The application is currently being processed and once completed, the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.