asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware of the long delay in giving a decision on old age pension appeals; and if he will arrange to have the matter expedited.
90.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Old Age Pensions.
89.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware of the hardship often caused to many people owing to the inordinate length of time it takes before applications for old age pensions are approved; and whether he proposes to improve this distressing situation.
With your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I propose to answer Question Nos. 89 and 90 together.
Having regard to certain staffing difficulties, decisions on old age pensions are not given as speedily as I would wish but I am hopeful of an early improvement.
Would the Minister make sure of that? What is happening over the last 12 months is that on appeal the people are actually waiting nine months for their cases to be decided. We make application to the Department and find there is much delay. Would the Minister try to move somebody in his Department to give decisions as quickly as possible because the applicants are the sufferers?
There has been a very big increase in the number of questions raised and these have increased the work considerably.
That is because the Minister's officials have tightened up on the means test.
It is due to the no means category coming in a few years ago.
It was the same at the time of the 5/-. It cost more to investigate than to pay.
You have cases piling up in the office for six to nine months.
91.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare what the old age pension was in (i) 1951 and (ii) 1965; and if he is satisfied that the present pensions compensate adequately for the cost of living increases since 1951.
The maximum rate of non-contributory old age pension in 1951 was 20/- a week. There was then no contributory pension scheme. In 1965 maximum non-contributory and contributory old age pensions were 47/6 and 50/- respectively. The percentage increase in old age pension since 1951 is almost three times as great as the rise in the consumer price index.
Does the Minister not agree that the percentage increases on small amounts bear no relation at all to the costs? Is he not aware that when workers got an increase of £1 a week social welfare recipients got only a very small proportion of that, even though the cost of keeping them is almost as much as that of keeping workers and their families?
The rate of increase has progressively outstripped any increase in the consumer price index. We are not tied to the consumer price index.
If a person was in receipt of a pension of £1 a week and got even a 25 per cent increase it is still only 5s, whereas a man with £12 a week got £1 per week increase. It is not relevant to the cost of living.
It is related to the amount he got years ago.
92.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare at what rate the old age pension should be paid to the wife of a contributory old age pensioner when she reaches the age of 70 years, provided the total income is only that which her husband and herself have been receiving to date.
So far as contributory pension is concerned, payment of an allowance for a wife continues unchanged when she attains the age of 70 years. If, however, she has no means and would qualify for a non-contributory old age pension at the maximum rate, she can apply in the normal way for that pension. If old age non-contributory pension becomes payable to her, the dependant's allowance received by the husband as part of his contributory pension, of course, terminates.
There would have been no assessment of means in relation to the contributory pension which is not subject to a means test or assessable as means.