Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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525. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the current status of a living alone increase claim in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [11522/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The person concerned made an applicaiton for the living alone increase on 8th February 2022 and has been awarded the payment, at the weekly rate of €19.00 from the 10th December 2021. Payment will commence at her nominated Post Office on the 3rd March 2022.  On that date she will also be paid all arrears due including the Christmas Bonus due on a living alone increase.  The living alone allowance weekly rate of payment has been increased to €22.00 from the 7th January 2022. 

A decision letter to that effect has been posted to the person concerned. 

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy. 

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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526. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when the working family payment will be reinstated for a person (details supplied);; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11562/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Working Family Payment is a weekly income support for families in low paid or part-time employment.

Working Family Payment for the person concerned was stopped in accordance with legislation as they were in receipt of Illness Benefit for longer than six weeks. 

Once the person concerned returned to work, Working Family Payment reviewed their entitlement and put the person concerned back into payment. All arrears due were issued on 24th February 2022.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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527. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the delays in the processing of domiciliary care allowance applications; the average processing time for applications for the allowance from November 2021 to date; the measures her Department has put in place to reduce delays; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11591/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Domiciliary Care allowance (DCA) is a payment to parents and guardians of children with a severe disability requiring substantial extra care and attention where that care is provided in their own home.  Payment is currently being made in respect of over 50,000 children.

All applications for DCA are carefully assessed by a medical assessor before a decision is made by a deciding officer.  The completeness of the information provided with the application will determine how quickly a decision can be made.  In this regard applicants are encouraged to ensure they provide all necessary information with their initial application. 

The processing target is to have 90% of applications decided within 10 weeks of receipt.

The average processing time for 2021 was 9.7 weeks. Processing times from November 2021 to date have ranged between 12 and 14 weeks.

The number of applications for Domiciliary Care Allowance exceeded 9,000 for the first time in 2021; this represented a 23% increase from the 2020 number of applications.

There were a disproportionate number of applications in the second half of 2021 due to covid related delays in getting a formal diagnosis or specialist reports not being available.

Additional staff have recently been assigned to DCA section to reflect the increased volumes of applications being received at present. These staff are currently undergoing training; when this is completed it is anticipated they will have a positive impact on processing times.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.