Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1116. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the current waiting time for the processing of applications for and the awarding of a disability allowance by county in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29711/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Disability Allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66.  This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical examination, a means test and Habitual Residency conditions. 

My Department is committed to making decisions on entitlement as quickly as possible.  

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 disability allowance (DA), evidence must be provided in respect of the person’s medical condition, the extent to which it restricts them from taking up employment, their means and their habitual residency. 

The claim processing target for DA is to process 75% of claims within 10 weeks.  Currently 97% of claims are completed within this timeframe.  The average weeks to award currently stands at 6 weeks.

The requested data on the processing times for DA applications broken down by county is not collated by the Department.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1117. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the current waiting time to process applications for and award a carer’s allowance by county in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29712/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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.

There are no delays with processing CA claims at present.  The target processing time for CA is to process 75% of new claims within 11 weeks.  At the end of April 2022, 92% of applications were completed within this timeframe.  The average time taken to award a CA claim is 5 weeks.

The requested data on the processing times for CA applications broken down by county is not collated by the Department.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.