Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable 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 that disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months.
Eligibility for DCA is not based entirely on the child's disability or diagnosis, but primarily on the impact of the disability/diagnosis in terms of the associated care and attention required by the relevant child compared to a child of the same age without their disability.
The following tables set out the information requested. The information includes new applications received, awarded and disallowed, the number of Appeals received, allowed, partially allowed and revised decision by a Deciding Officer and the number of Judicial Reviews received and awarded. No statistics for 2025 are available at this time.
|
New Applications
|
|
|
|
|
Year
|
Applications Received
|
Applications Awarded
|
Applications Disallowed
|
|
2020
|
7,289
|
4,987
|
2,639
|
|
2021
|
9,131
|
5,369
|
2,478
|
|
2022
|
10,524
|
7,872
|
3,948
|
|
2023
|
12,327
|
8,045
|
4,076
|
|
2024
|
13,270
|
8,961
|
4,554
|
|
Appeals
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year
|
Appeals Received
|
Appeal Allowed
|
Appeal Partially Allowed
|
Revised decision by Deciding Officer
|
|
2020
|
1,690
|
912
|
51
|
477
|
|
2021
|
1,558
|
533
|
25
|
484
|
|
2022
|
2,084
|
698
|
48
|
712
|
|
2023
|
2,146
|
862
|
54
|
407
|
|
2024
|
3,609
|
792
|
25
|
832
|
|
Judicial Reviews
|
|
|
|
Year
|
Number of Judicial Reviews
|
Awarded after Judicial Review
|
|
2020
|
5
|
0
|
|
2021
|
4
|
1
|
|
2022
|
16
|
5
|
|
2023
|
22
|
6
|
|
2024
|
20
|
38
|
In some cases for new applications, more than one decision may be made where an applicant provides further information/ documentary evidence and/or seeks a review of a decision, i.e. an application can be disallowed initially and then subsequently allowed on review. Applicants are advised to provide as much detail as possible at application stage, including any additional information and/or documentary evidence that is relevant, to ensure that all information is available to my Department for the decision and assessment process.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
