Written answer
Social Welfare Schemes
2103. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide a breakdown of the number of people assessed for Disability Allowance in 2024, 2025 and 2026 to date, where either the income of their spouse or cohabitant respectively were taken into account in their assessment, in tabular form; to provide a breakdown of those figures where it was a cohabitant; to confirm the numbers that subsequently didn’t qualify due to this income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59023/26]
Comment on this
2104. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide a breakdown of the number of people assessed for the Blind Pension in 2024, 2025 and 2026 to date where either the income of their spouse or cohabitant respectively were taken into account in their assessment, in tabular form; to provide a breakdown of those figures where it was a cohabitant; to confirm the numbers that subsequently didn’t qualify due to this income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59024/26]
Comment on this
I propose to take Questions Nos. 2103 and 2104 together.
The total number of claims registered, awarded, and rejected for Disability Allowance and Blind Pension are provided in the table below. Please note that 'claims awarded' and 'claims rejected' refer to the total number of claims awarded or rejected in each period, and includes claim decisions in respect of claims registered in previous periods as well as those overturned on review or appeal of the initial decision. For these reasons the number of claims awarded and rejected each year can exceed the number of claims registered in the given year. The Department of Social Protection does not hold statistics on reasons for claim decisions and thus it is not possible to provide the requested breakdowns.
The number of claims registered, awarded, and rejected for 2024, 2025, and 2026 for Disability Allowance are provided in the following table. Figures for 2026 are for the year to 30 June 2026.
The number of claims registered, awarded, and rejected for 2024 and 2025 for Blind Pension are provided in the following table. Figures for 2026 are not yet available for Blind Pension.