Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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225. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the position regarding a review of claimants of the domiciliary care allowance; the purpose of this review; the person or body that initiated it; if parents of children with lifelong permanent conditions will not be subject to this review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24788/19]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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In line with other Social Welfare schemes, Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is subject to review to ensure that the qualifying conditions for the scheme continue to be met.

In the case of DCA, scheduled eligibility reviews were suspended in May 2012 pending a review of the operation of the scheme and have remained suspended in the intervening period for a number of operational reasons; including introducing the recommendations of report on the review of the scheme  and the assignment of all available staff resources to process the increased volume of applications received in recent years. New claims are currently processed in line with the departmental standard (90% to be processed within 10 weeks), with claims finalised on average within 10 weeks.

The re-introduction of eligibility reviews by department management at this time, is made possible in the context of having sufficient staff resources available to undertake reviews, without impacting on new claim processing times.  It also fulfills the requirement to have proper control and oversight of claims in payment, as required by the comptroller and auditor general.

Eligibility for DCA is not based on the child's particular disability or the severity of the condition, but rather on the additional care needs arising from the disability.  So the purpose of the review is to assess the child's current care needs, which may have changed over time as the child developed and as a result of receiving appropriate treatment/support.

Children recommended by the departments medical advisors, as not requiring review due to their particular disability, will be exempted from reviews.  Some 15% of claims are marked as 'not to be reviewed', due to the severity of the disability of the child.

 I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.