80% of carers who were denied allowance win payments on appeal
DCA is a monthly payment worth €309 to a family and is made to the carer of a child with a severe disability who lives at home.
The previously high rate of rejection of applications led to a number of families bringing court actions in a bid to secure the payment, and last year the matter was the subject of a High Court ruling.
Latest figures from the Department of Social Protection shows 7,434 applications were made last year and that 6,679 were fully processed.
Of those, 1,683 were deemed not to satisfy the qualifying criteria — just over 25% — a fall from the 33% of applications rejected at the same stage in 2015.
However, the figures also show that almost 80% of cases that were appealed were subsequently granted. Of the 1,344 appeals processed last year, 1,065 were either allowed or there was a revised decision following further correspondence or receipt of additional information.
Another 18 appeals were partially allowed and just 250 were disallowed.
While the average time taken to process an initial DCA application averages just over 14 weeks, it takes between 24 weeks and 30 weeks for appeals to be dealt with.
There were 416 appeals pending decision by the end of last year, and 2,077 initial applications awaiting a decision.
The high rate of refusals later granted on appeal and the time it takes to reach those decisions have been the focus of attention from the DCA Warriors group, which now has almost 12,000 members.
Margaret Lennon of the DCA Warriors group said it was “very alarming” that the refusal rates were still high when taken alongside the very high rate of refused applications later granted on appeal.
“My view has not changed since the outset,” she said.
“A lot of parents coming into the system with children with medical conditions or additional education needs, there is no process to ever inform them they are entitled to apply for DCA.”
Ms Lennon said that, in any referral for an assessment of need, parents could be informed at that stage that their child might qualify for the payment. She also said many parents who are successful in securing the payment do not have it backdated.
Solicitor Gareth Noble of KOD Lyons has been involved in court actions on behalf of families seeking the DCA payment.
He said: “The figures published shows the advancements made in relation to refusal rates.
“This success has occurred to a large extent as a result of parental pressure and greater awareness on behalf of the public in relation to this scheme.
“The department are no longer in a position to studiously avoid making accountable decisions as a result of important legal determinations that required decision makers to engage with the evidence actually presented by applicants rather than issue standard rejection letters.
“The number of successful appeals also raises serious concerns around the efficacy of the initial decision making process and the delays for having decisions considered and appeals reached remain stubbornly high.”
