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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 12 May 1981

Vol. 328 No. 12

Written Answers. - Disability Benefit Payments.

57.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline the process whereby the administration of disability benefit has been computerised; the length of time involved in the preparatory planning; the number of personnel directly involved in the actual transfer of the data to computer tapes; the number of persons who would or could be eligible to receive benefit; the present operation of the computerised system and its effectiveness; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The production by computer of disability benefit payments has been in operation in my Department since late 1973 but I assume the Deputy is referring to the system of computerised records of pay-related social insurance contributions which are relied on for the purposes of deciding entitlement to disability benefit from January of this year.

The method of collection of social insurance contributions was changed with effect from April 1979 from the stamped card system to the pay-related system of collection operated by the Revenue Commisioners in conjunction with the collection of PAYE income tax. Up to December 1980 entitlement to disability benefit was decided on the basis of the records of contributions paid by way of stamped cards but since January 1981 such entitlement is, in the main, decided on the basis of the computerised records of the pay-related contributions.

Preparatory planning for the computerised record-keeping system commenced in 1978 and involved the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Central Data Processing Services of the Department of the Public Service as well as my Department. Details of the PRSI contributions are registered on computers in the officer of the Revenue Commissioners from employers' annual returns, which cover both income tax and PRSI contributions, and are transferred via computer tapes to the computers in my Department.

These then are the basic PRSI contributions records which are relied on for the purposes of the payment of disability benefit since January 1981 and the only further involvement of my Department is in making additions and amendments which are received regularly via computer tapes from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners arising out of the normal course of their continuing operations of collecting outstanding contributions, receiving late returns, correcting defective returns, and so on. The basic contribution records and any amendments received from the employers via the office of the Revenue Commissioners are supplemented in the Department of Social Welfare by the addition thereto of records of credited contributions arising from disability, unemployment benefit, and so on, thereby making up the full contribution picture for the contribution or tax year in question. In addition my Department collect the contributions and end of year returns themselves in a small number of cases, approximately 7,500. These are in respect of some special non-PAYE categories of employees, such as employees of diplomatic missions, persons employed in Ireland by employers who are resident abroad, AnCO trainees, home helps employed by various social service organisations, and certain actors and actresses.

The data available from the Revenue Commissioners in respect of PRSI contributions for the 1979-80 tax year is deficient in certain respects, mainly due to an excessive number of employees who had to be taxed on an emergency tax system for several months at the beginning of that tax year. This situation occurred because of restrictions imposed on the issue of tax free allowance certificates and on the allocation of RSI numbers during the postal dispute. The situation was compounded by the fact that come employers did not complete end-of-year returns correctly, largely due to their lack of familiarity with the amended form which was introduced for the first time in respect of 1979-80. Apart from difficulties in cases where PRSI records were not available or were incomplete, the principal transitional difficulty in relation to PRSI arose out of the failure of many claimants to quote the RSI number and previous insurance number on all documents, but in particular on all medical certificates, submitted to the Department in connection with their claims for disability benefit, and the consequential difficulty in identifying the relevant records either from the computer or from the old clerical record system.

In the month prior to the change in the payment system in January there was a sustained press and television advertising campaign urging insured persons to quote both the RSI number and old social insurance number on all claim forms and medical certificates being sent to the Department. In addition all existing disability benefit claimants were requested individually in writing to quote both numbers from January 1981. In a further effort to get claimants to quote both numbers staff of the Department's public offices in Dublin and throughout the country have been requested to inspect all medical certificates and other documents handed in, so as to ensure that they contain both numbers.

Despite these measures many claimants initially did not, and some still do not, quote both numbers. Where claimants fail to quote both numbers, there is unavoidable delay in making payment in any case in which it is not possible to trace the relevant insurance record. However, pending the identification of the relevant record, as a special transitional arrangement this year, payment of disability benefit may be based on the contributions in the 1978-79 contribution year, where an insured person is not eligible on the available 1979-80 record.

My Department are fully committed to the task of bringing payment of benefit up to date in the shortest possible time. Additional experienced staff from within the Department and from other Departments have been assigned to the branch responsible for the payment of disability benefit. Instructions have been issued to all staff concerned to take whatever action is necessary to speed up the issue of payments and they are working overtime during the week and at weekends to achieve this. A renewed advertising campaign has been undertaken in the press and on radio and television to make the public generally and claimants in particular more aware of the importance of quoting both their RSI and old insurance numbers on all claim forms, medical certificates and letters sent to the Department.

The existing computer system in use for the payment of disability benefit if working satisfactorily but is due to be replaced, in the normal course, by a more modern and elaborate computer system during the months of August and September this year. This computer system will again have immediate access, via vis- ual display unit terminals, to the records of current claims but one of its special advantages will be that these terminals will be capable of being located outside of the building in which the computer is housed, for example, in the public office of the Department at Oisín House and linked back to the computer by telephone lines. This will result in a major improvement in the information service of the Department as the staff in the public office will have automatic immediate access to the precise latest position of the case, which they can then discuss with the claimant across the counter. This facility will be available initially in Dublin but I propose to have it extended also to appropriate local offices of the Department throughout the country as soon as the experience of operating in the Dublin area warrants it. The availability of these telecommunications facilities will also afford advantages in relation to regionalisation.

The number of persons insured for disability benefit is approximately 820,000. The weekly number of persons in receipt of disability benefit averages about 69,000.

106.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will take steps to grant a non-contributory old age pension at the maximum rate to a person (details supplied) in County Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

It was determined by an appeals officer in August 1980 that the person concerned was entitled to a non-contributory old age pension at the reduced rate of £16.20 from 27 May 1980. Fresh evidence has recently been furnished by the pensioner's solicitor in support of his claim for an increase. As a result of this the appeal will be re-opened shortly and the pensioner will have the opportunity of presenting his case directly to an appeals officer.

Following the increase in social welfare payments provided by this year's budget the pensioner is in receipt of a pension at the rate of £21.45 a week since 3 April 1981.

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