Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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668. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when a decision will be made in relation to a domiciliary care allowance review (details supplied); the current processing times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44488/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly allowance payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of the child's disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months. This level of care and attention must be required to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living in areas such as mobility, personal care, feeding / diet, communication, speech / language, sleeping, behaviour, safety, sensory issues, including any other additional needs.

Eligibility for DCA is not based entirely on the type of disability or diagnosis but primarily on the impact of the child's disability, in terms of the associated overall level of care and attention required by the child compared to a child of a similar age who does not have such a disability. The decision process that applies in the consideration of whether a child meets the conditions for DCA includes the examination of all relevant factors identified as impacting on the child's additional care needs.

An application for DCA from the person concerned was received by my Department on 7 December 2023. A Deciding Officer disallowed the claim as per decision dated 23 January 2024. Based on the information provided, the child was not considered to satisfy the conditions for DCA. This determination considered the supporting medical evidence that was provided by the applicant in their application. The Deciding Officer had regard to the professional opinion of a departmental Medical Assessor in making their decision and a copy of this opinion was issued to the applicant for information along with the decision notification.

An appeal request was registered by the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) on the 23 April 2024.

On foot of a request for an appeal, it is the Department's policy for a Deciding Officer to review all appeals received where new additional information has been provided. A full review of the DCA claim and the Deciding Officers original decision of 23 January 2024 was undertaken by a Deciding Officer. Following this review of the application, including all information and evidence available at the time of the original decision and all further information and documentary evidence that was provided in support of their appeal/review request, a Deciding Officer decided not to revise the above decision as per review decision dated 19 September 2024.

The person concerned requested a further review of eligibility for DCA and included further documentary evidence in support of this review. On foot of this request, a full re-examination of their DCA claim and my Department's original decision dated 23 January 2024 was undertaken by a Deciding Officer. Following this review, a Deciding Officer has revised the original decision and a decision letter has issued by post.

New DCA claims are currently taking an average of 6 weeks to process from date of receipt of application.

In cases where further medical evidence is submitted as part of the review, a Deciding Officer may request the opinion of a Departmental Medical Assessor (MA) which can increase the time taken to process a review. An MA opinion is sought to ensure that the Deciding Officer has all of the necessary information to make a fair and accurate decision.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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669. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person (details supplied) can avail of the Jobs Plus incentive following his return to work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44491/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The JobsPlus scheme is an incentive paid to employers who recruit long-term unemployed people for new positions in their workplace. Employers can avail of JobsPlus when filling new positions or positions that arise as a consequence of natural turnover and receive a subsidy of €7,500 or €10,000 per employee. The value of the grant is dependent on the age of the new employee and their duration of unemployment.

The person referred to applied for JobsPlus assessment on 29 September 2024 and a decision issued advising that they were not eligible on 2 October 2024 as the person concerned was not at that time in receipt of a qualifying payment. On request from the applicant’s employer the decision was reviewed on 11 October 2024 and the original decision was upheld.

However, following a further review of the particular circumstances relating to this case, the Department has now decided to award JobsPlus in respect of this employment with effect from date of application. The employer has been notified of this decision.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.