asked the Minister for Social Welfare the normal procedure for processing a supplementary welfare allowance claim; and the average time involved from the receipt of the application to the receipt of the approved allowance.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme.
29.
A claim for supplementary welfare allowance is normally dealt with by the local community welfare officer who interviews the claimant and obtains particulars of his or her circumstances and means. Where a claim is a straightforward one for a basic allowance or one where the situation is urgent, the officer authorises payment on the spot. Where the application is for an additional allowance or a single payment to meet exceptional needs, the approval of a senior officer may be required and this is normally forthcoming within a matter of days.
Is the senior officer whose approval is necessary the person who would hear the appeal on a refusal?
As matters stand at present, if an additional allowance is over a certain amount theoretically the permission of the Minister is necessary but these matters are dealt with quite informally by telephone.
I assume that the superintendent community welfare officer would be the person who would make the decision in the first instance. To some extent this ties in with the point made by Deputy Treacy, that it would be the same person who would hear an appeal.
No. The community welfare officer hears the case in the first instance and if there is a review it goes to his boss, the superintendent. An appeal goes to an appointed appeals officer.
Where the amount involved is in excess of a certain sum the local officer has to refer the matter to his superior in the first instance.
Yes.
My point is that the appeal is to the same person to whom it was referred by the local officer in the first instance.
It is most unlikely that there would be an appeal in the case of the exceptional sums. There are two different things here. One is the normal supplementary welfare allowance, either the full allowance or a reduced amount. That is decided by the community welfare officer in the first instance with an appeal to the appointed person. In other cases there may be a need, as is envisaged in the legislation, for exceptional payments to meet particular circumstances. As matters stand some of these cases have to be reffered to the Department because, in theory, they may have to be authorised by the Minister. As I have said, we have an informal working arrangement whereby it can be dealt with more often than not by telephoning the Department.
There is no appeal?
Yes. The appeal would be to the appointed officer.
Is the Minister not aware that the welfare officer, or the home assistance officer as he was called under the old Act——
Things improve all the time.
Not that much. Names have changed only. The welfare officer before determining a case invariably refers the matter to his superior officer, the superintendent. Is it not an absurd situation where a case is refused that it must be referred back again to the superintendent?
The Deputy horrifies me if what he has said prevails anywhere because that should not be. The normal routine way of dealing with matters should be that the community welfare officer decides the case there and then without referring to anybody.
Does the Minister not agree that in order that justice would be seen to be done the aggrieved person in such a case would have a right of audience and be in a position to submit evidence contrary to that of the officer?
He has that right.
Will the Minister make it clear that he is making that categorical statement?
Certainly.
30.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of applications for the supplementary welfare allowance; the number of these applications approved; the number rejected; the number which have received the maximum amount; and the number which have received less than the maximum amount.
The information requested by the Deputy is not available as statistics of the kind requested are not maintained by the health boards.