persecuting the disabled and their carers

rock chic

FRONT IRELAND SPORT WORLD BUSINESS OPINION

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Families turn to High Court for disability grant
By Noel Baker
Wednesday, January 23, 2013

An increasing number of families are being forced to go to the High Court to reverse decisions not to grant allowances for children with severe disabilities.

Figures from the Department of Social Protection show 66% of applications for the domiciliary care allowance — worth €309 to a family monthly — were refused last year.

The payment is made to the carer of a child with a severe disability who lives at home, but the level of refusals from the department, and the length of the appeals process, has seen more families go to court to have decisions overturned.

Gareth Noble, of Dublin law firm KOD Lyons, said he has taken on 100 cases in the past eight months, of which up to 40 have secured the DCA payment following initial refusal. He said that last week alone, he took instructions from seven families seeking to bring a legal challenge.

A departmental review into the system of assessment and the appeals process is continuing and it is understood it will shortly be provided to Social Protection Minister Joan Burton.

An online group called the DCA Warriors has used Facebook to highlight the level of refusals and cases where payment had been made but was withdrawn. It has prompted many families to explore bringing cases to the High Court, with Mr Noble revealing that most of the cases decided in his clients’ favour were resolved without even stepping into the courtroom.

A spokesperson for the department said the total number of successful DCA applications rose from 34% to 46% as a result of additional information being provided, while 10% of all applications were granted following appeal, resulting in 56% of all applications being granted in 2012.

this is an article from the irish examiner on wendsday 23rd January 2013 my own disabled son who has autism ,learning difficulties and a hearing impairment are going through this at the moment he has been refused disability allowance and ive been refused carers allowance this is a 16 year old lad who constantly needs adult supervision and cannot travel by himself or even walk down to the shop im going to have to take this to an appeal why is the govenment persecuting some of the most vulnerable people in society and their carers its not that i want to claim this payment or he claim his but we have to i cannot work due to the level of care my son needs its not fair and its disgusting the way we are being treated

rock chic

anybody else been through this and if so what happened i could do with some advice thanks folks

rock chic

OVER 300 PEOPLE have been waiting for more than a year to hear the result of an appeal against a refusal to grant them disability allowance, new figures have shown.
Figures released by minister Joan Burton show that 4,169 people have appealed rulings that they are not entitled to the allowance – with 2,513 of them waiting over four months for their appeal to be heard.
In 321 cases, people have been waiting over a year to have the appeal heard, according to figures released to Fianna Fáil social protection spokesman Willie O’Dea.
The figures also revealed that 113 people are waiting to have appeals heard for applications for carer’s allowance for over a year, out of a total of 1,635 appeals pending.
“The facts are there for all to see,” O’Dea said yesterday. ”Three out of every five applications for the Disability Allowance have been rejected.
“Between January and April, the Department of Social Protection turned down 4,823 applications – this represents a 61 per cent refusal rate, up from 54 per cent in 2010.”
O’Dea said Burton had responded to his question about the delays – which has yet to be publicly published online – by blaming a transition to a new computer system.
The former minister said Burton should now go before an Oireachtas committee to explain why families were waiting so long to have appeals heard, and why so many appeals were being rejected in the first place.
“This Government has consistently attacked supports for young people with disabilities since coming into office and they have been forced into a series of row-backs and ‘reviews’,” O’Dea said.
In Dáil exchanges earlier this week Burton and O’Dea clashed over whether the refusal rates for disability allowance had increased since the current coalition came into office, or whether the slide came under the previous Fianna Fáil-led administration.
O’Dea pointed out that refusal rates had remained steady in 2009 and 2010, but had increased in 2011 – the year Fine Gael and Labour took office. Burton pointed out, however, that the overall volume of applications began to increase significantly during Fianna Fáil’s time in office.


from todays journal.ie

rock chic

if somethings not done this is only going to get worse

lillypopkins

I need some advice i have applied for the dom care and carers for my son if i get this does it mean my carers application will go through easier than if i dont get it ive read its allowed almost because you have been approved the dom care any advise

thanks

RainyDay

Might be some useful information on these vids;

http://www.youtube.com/InclusionIreland

lillypopkins

thank you that is of great help lots of information on it