Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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333. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of applications for carer's allowance and the number of accepted applications in 2022, broken down by month, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5353/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Carer’s Allowance is a means-tested payment to people on low incomes who are caring full-time for a person who needs support because of age, disability or illness.  The person being cared for must require full-time care and attention.

The number of claims registered and claims awarded for Carer's Allowance in 2022 are shown in the table below.

Table 1: Claims registered and claims awarded for Carer's Allowance, by month

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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334. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will expedite an application for partial capacity for a person (details supplied). [5411/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Partial Capacity Benefit (PCB) is a social welfare scheme which allows a person to return to work or self-employment and continue to receive a payment from my department.  A person must be in receipt of Illness Benefit (IB) for a minimum of six months or Invalidity Pension (IP) in order to apply for PCB. 

My Department will determine whether the applicant is eligible and (if so) at what level the PCB would be paid depending on their capacity to work.  Once that decision is made, the applicant must then subsequently confirm that they wish to proceed on that basis and confirm the date that their employment is commencing.  A Deciding Officer will then put the relevant payment in place.

The person concerned applied for Partial Capacity Benefit (PCB) on the 16 November 2022, their claim was referred to the Medical Assessor (MA).  They have been assessed as having a 'Moderate' capacity to work and is eligible for PCB at 50% of their underlying scheme, Illness Benefit.

The person concerned was informed of the medical result on the 4 January 2023.  They now need to contact the PCB section to advise when they intend to return to work.  When my department is notified of the 'Return to work' date, a deciding officer will examine if the person meets all the qualifying conditions for receipt of PCB and complete the processing of this application.

I trust this clarifies for the Deputy.