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11-14C
Breaking stories
Disability allowance rules ‘need clarity’
By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
The Department of Social Protection has been urged to clarify if it has changed how disability allowance eligibility rules are interpreted after a drastic rise in rejected application numbers.
Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher made the call after it was revealed the number of people being refused the vital state support has jumped from 40% in the final three years of the boom to 61% in 2012.The figures, reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, also show 4,832 applications were turned down between January and April, meaning the 2012 annual rate is set to reach 15,000 — double the Celtic Tiger levels.
The rejection level for the first third of 2012 is also more than half that of the annual rates for 2006 (7,369), 2007 (7,275), and 2008 (8,786).
While a Department spokesperson said there has been no change to eligibity rules, Mr Kelleher said: “We need to know if there has been any change in how the criteria [for successful applications] is being interpreted,” arguing the sudden surge in rejections may come from a need “to curb costs and save money”.
A recent Department internal “fraud and error” report said 175 of 1,011 disability allowance claims examined at random should not have been allowed, as the medical condition involved no longer existed. A Sunday newspaper said an unspecified number of these claims were subsequently reinstated on appeal.
Between the height of the boom and the depth of the recession, the number of people seeking disability allowances rose from 18,422 in 2006 to 24,264 last year.
Disability allowance is provided to people aged between 16 and 66 who are under set income thresholds.
* A full breakdown of disability allowance eligibity criteria is available at: www.citizensinformation.ie