asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware of the injustice and hardship being caused by the long delays in paying sickness benefits; and that these delays often range from four to six weeks; and if he will make arrangements to have such payments made in future at local level, instead of from his Department as happens in Sligo; and if he will have payments expedited.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sickness Benefit Payments.
78.
I am not aware that long delays occur in paying disability benefit but if the Deputy will furnish me with details of any particular case he may have in mind I will have enquiries made.
Is the Minister aware that there are many families in my constituency, especially in the town of Sligo, who suffer grave hardship because of long delays in the payment of benefits? This is a general matter. It is general in my constituency and throughout the country, I think. Is the Minister further aware that this hardship is especially felt in homes where there are young families and the where there is no money coming into the house for four to six weeks?
I cannot accept that general statement as being correct at all. The Deputy may know of individual cases where there are delays. On a number of occasions in recent weeks, I had a look at the overall situation in the Department. Considering that we have 50,000 cases currently in payment at any particular time, that last year we issued 2¼ million cheques, and that the disbursal this year was almost £11 million, the number of delays is a very small percentage of the whole.
The Minister must appreciate that this is a problem. In most of the cases in my experience, it is not the fault of the Department. There are unfortunate people who have not the ability to fill in the form correctly. When there is an omission or wrong information, the Department have to query it. Would the Minister not consider designating somebody in the local employment exchange to assist these people? There are people who are paid as single men who, in some cases, have a wife and maybe ten children. They omitted to reply to the question whether they are married or single, the number of children, and so on. It is my experience in my constituency that it is usually the fault of the person who applies for the benefit. Nevertheless, that does not get away from the problem.
Sometimes a local representative claims he assists in the filling-up of the form, thereby expediting results. While it is important to have the initial information properly detailed, the main delay is due to our not having an up-to-date record at the time the application comes in. For instance, the card has not been surrendered, the books are not submitted. The only way we can verify this is to look at his record. The employer may not have submitted it.
What do you do then?
We immediately get in touch with him.
If the employer has not affixed the stamps, what then?
We take the necessary action to have the arrears paid up.
What happens the applicant in the meantime? Is he paid?
No.
Would it be possible to have investigations and payments made at local level?
This would not expedite payment to any great extent. Records are essentially centralised in my Department. They must be kept there for the many purposes for which they are needed. A local agent would be just a medium through which they would issue.
I do not mean this in a derogatory sense but would the Minister not agree that his officials are more concerned about correcting applications than making payments? When a person working in Northern Ireland and living in Donegal applies for sickness benefit, there are all sorts of delays. I do not accept that the volume of work is any excuse for keeping a family waiting for benefits to which they are entitled. Would the Minister re-examine the matter?
Next question.
There must be a simple formula for this. The Minister must have another look at it.
Every week, every Member is approached about payment of sickness benefit. Somebody in the employment exchanges in provincial towns should be designated to assist people in this respect. Deputies are not always available. The local agent should also help to a greater extent.
This is not anything new in recent times. There always has been a good deal of difficulty. In fact, if anything, claims are coming in more correctly than they used to but the volume of work has increased. I mention the volume of work merely to indicate the small percentage of delays. I do not come here, time after time, deliberately to defend officials but I find that, in 99 cases out of 100, the fault, as Deputy Corish said, is with the applicant.
Even if only one person in the whole country is left without sickness benefit on a Friday, it is important to speed-up the procedure.
What would the Minister consider a reasonable time between the date of application and payment in a direct case?
When everything is in order, when the second certificate comes in—one week.