Social Welfare Benefits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 June 2023

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

Questions (811)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

811. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of domiciliary care allowance applications; the number of refusals on first application; the number of appeals; the number of requests for review; the number of successful and unsuccessful appeals and reviews respectively, for each of the past ten years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27617/23]

Written answers

Minister for Social Protection

Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly payment for a child with a severe disability. The payment is not based on the type of disability. It is based on the impact of the disability.

The number of claims registered and claims rejected for Domiciliary Care Allowance in each of the last ten years are shown in Table 1 below. The number of appeals for Domiciliary Care Allowance in each of the last ten years are shown in Table 2 below. My Department does not hold statistics on the number of requests for review.

Table 1: Domiciliary Care Allowance claims registered and rejected, by year

Year	Claims Registered	Claims Rejected
2013	4,464	2,442
2014	5,743	2,024
2015	6,422	2,102
2016	7,434	1,683
2017	8,197	2,187
2018	8,609	2,225
2019	8,719	2,875
2020	7,289	2,639
2021	9,098	2,483
2022	10,524	3,948

Table 2: Domiciliary Care Allowance appeals, by year

Year	Total Appeal Receipts	Total Appeals Finalised	Revised Deciding Officers Decisions	Appeals Allowed by Appeals Officers	Appeals Partly Allowed by Appeals Officers	Appeals Disallowed by Appeals Officers	Withdrawn
2013	1,688	2,065	533	783	25	694	30
2014	1,301	1,575	506	701	24	334	10
2015	1,258	1,158	313	571	40	226	8
2016	1,198	1,344	469	596	18	250	11
2017	1,199	801	343	297	10	135	16
2018	1,432	1,572	590	686	13	258	25
2019	1,656	1,685	517	811	10	321	31
2020	1,690	1,936	477	912	51	488	8
2021	1,558	1,385	484	533	25	338	5
2022	2,084	2,010	712	698	48	535	17