asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware that the payment of disability benefit was discontinued to a person (details supplied) in County Laois in October last; and if he will have this matter investigated and disability benefit restored.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
1.
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from September 1977 and was paid to 11 October 1980 when payment was refused following examination by a medical referee who expressed the opinion that she was capable of work.
She appealed against the disallowance of her calim from 13 October 1980, and in this connection was examined by a different medical referee who also expressed the opinion that she was capable of work. Following an oral hearing of her appeal at which she was present the appeals officer upheld the deciding officer's decision.
An appeals officer's decision is final and can be altered only in the light of fresh facts or new evidence which was not before him at the time of making his decision.
2.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the date disability benefit in respect of the period 22 to 31 January, 1981 will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 22 January 1981 and has been paid at the maximum appropriate rate. All disability benefit due from 26 January 1981, fourth day of incapacity, to 31 January 1981, after which date he was certified fit to resume work, was issued on 2 April 1981.
Why did it take so long to pay the money which was due from 31 January last?
The insurance numbers were not correct on some of the certificates.
Were they correct on some of them?
It is not possible to associate them with the claim. It is not as simple as that. On the first one you open the claim and you need a subsequent certificate to pay any money. The first certificate only opens the claim and if the subsequent certificate does not have the correct number it is not possible to associate it with the original claim.
If the money fell due on 31 January and it was not paid until 4 April surely that is a very long delay and the Minister should be ashamed of it?
If the numbers had been correctly quoted the money would have been paid on time.
3.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 7 February 1981 and was paid from 11 February 1981, fourth day of incapacity. All disability benefit, and pay-related benefit due, less the amount reimbursed to the health board of supplementary welfare allowance advanced, has been paid to 21 March, after which date he was certified fit to resume work.
Payment was held from 11 February pending clarification of the amount of supplementary welfare allowance due for refund to the health board. When the amount advanced was established the balance of benefit due was paid. Cheques issued 12 March, 1 April and 3 April 1981.
Is the amount advanced not something that is capable of being established on a standard basis in view of the fact that under the supplementary welfare provisions there are clear criteria as to the amount which may be advanced to people under the Act? Would the Minister not agree that he had already available to him sufficient information whereby he could have determined the amount that ought to be deducted without delaying the payment of the balance which was certainly due?
The amount of money granted under the supplementary welfare allowance varies in accordance with the family circumstances. The problem, from the point of view of the social welfare officers is that the legislation of this House passed by Deputies on the far side and Deputies on this side, is that that money can only be deducted from arrears. They must, therefore, determine what the amount is to deduct it from any arrears that are paid.
Would the Minister not agree that the amount of social welfare benefit is also based on family circumstances? As the Minister has information as to the family circumstances which determines the amount of social welfare benefit surely he has similar information available to determine the amount of supplementary social welfare benefits which might be paid to the health boards?
It depends on the individual cases and the circumstances in each individual case. In some cases certain amounts of money are paid by the employers in the first instance. It varies from case to case and the amount of supplementary welfare paid through the health boards certainly varies.
Would it not be possible to change this?
We make the policy and I agree it needs to be reviewed in future. We will continue to do that.
Has the Minister made it clear to the health boards, where there are no means whatsoever, that the maximum unemployment assistance rate is granted to such a person and his family?
Earlier this year I asked the health boards to give the maximum amounts allowable.
Some of them did not do that.
I appreciate that, but there are eight different health boards.
4.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 7 February 1981 and was paid from 11 February 1981, fourth day of incapacity. All disability benefit, and pay-related benefit due, less the amount reimbursed to the health board of supplementary welfare allowance advanced, has been paid to 21 March, after which date he was certified fit to resume work.
Payment was held from 11 February pending clarification of the amount of supplementary welfare allowance due for refund to the health board. When the amount advanced was established the balance of benefit due was paid. Cheques issued 12 March, 1 April and 3 April 1981
When was the balance paid?
They were the balances. The last one was 3 April. All those questions were put down before Easter and have been left on the Order Paper until now.
In determining the means of an applicant how comparable are the means assessed by the Minister's Department and those of the health boards?
They are not directly comparable. The officer in the health board has discretion in relation to the means which he makes available under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The amounts payable in the Department under social welfare are either under benefits or assistance. If they are benefits, which we are talking about in this case, they are directly related to agreed sums with pay-related supplements.
Would the Minister not agree that it is a strange situation that a person working under the Minister in his capacity as Minister for Health and another person working under him in his capacity as Minister for Social Welfare can investigate the means of an applicant and arrive at different conclusions?
In the benefits there is no investigation into the means of the applicant so there is no comparison between the two.
Can the Minister not say——
These are individual cases. We cannot have a discussion about social welfare on those.
5.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 31 January 1981 and all disability benefit and pay-related benefit due from the 4 February 1981, fourth day of incapacity, to 16 May 1981 has been paid. Benefit due for the period 4 to 19 March 1981 was witheld pending the receipt of information from the health board on the amount of supplementary welfare allowance paid.
6.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit will be paid to a person (details supplied) which is due since 10 March, 1981.
The person concerned has been in receipt of disability benefit since 9 December 1980. Payment in respect of the period from 10 March 1981 to 24 March 1981 was issued on 26 March 1981. All benefit due to 6 May 1981 has been issued.
7.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit which is due since 14 March, 1981 will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned has been claiming disability benefit since 1973 and has been paid at the maximum appropriate rate to 16 May 1981.
Disability benefit issued regularly on the same day each week up to the beginning of March. As a child reached 18 years on 6 March 1981 payment stopped automatically at that point to enable adjustment to be made in the weekly rate of payment. The adjustment in payment was made but, due to an error, the stop date was not deleted from the computer system. The error was rectified and payment due to 4 April 1981 issued on 3 April. Payment has since issued regularly each week.
8.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit which is due since 9 February, 1981 will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 4 February 1981 and has been paid at the maximum appropriate rate. All disability benefit and pay-related benefit due from 7 February 1981, fourth day of incapacity, to 25 April 1981, after which date he was certified fit to resume work, has been issued. Payment of benefit was delayed because an incorrect number was quoted on the second and third certificates, dated 11 and 18 February 1981, respectively, submitted to the Department.
9.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit which is due for the past few weeks will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 27 February 1981 and has been paid at the maximum appropriate rate. All disability benefit due from that date to 26 March 1981, after which date he was certified fit to resume work, has been issued.
10.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit which is due since 9 March, 1981 will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 9 March 1981, and has been paid all benefit due to 4 May 1981. Benefit was paid at a reduced rate appropriate to her contribution record in the 1978-79 contribution year. The question of her entitlement to pay-related benefit is being investigated and any benefit due will issue as soon as possible.
11.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit which is due since 10 March, 1981 will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 31 January 1981 and was paid from 4 February, fourth day of incapacity, at the maximum appropriate rate. Payment issued to 10 March when a notification was received from the health board that supplementary welfare allowance had been advanced to him. When details of the amount advanced were received payment of disability benefit to 31 March 1981 was issued on 3 April 1981.
12.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit which is due since 26 December 1980 will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 26 December 1980 and has been paid from 30 December, fourth day of incapacity, at the maximum appropriate rate. All disability benefit due has been paid to 11 May 1981. The first two cheques that issued were addressed to the number `89' instead of `59' as the address on his first certificate looked like `89'. These cheques were re-addressed to the correct address. In addition, despite a number of requests to quote his RSI number he quoted his insurance number only on his earlier medical certificates., When details of his earnings are available pay-related benefit, if due, will issue.
13.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare when disability benefit, which is due since 23 February 1981, will be paid to a person (details supplied).
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 22 September 1980 and has been paid from 25 September, fourth day of incapacity, at the maximum appropriate rate. All disability benefit and pay-related benefit due to 4 April 1981 was issued on 6 April 1981. Subsequent payments have issued regularly on the same day each week; all payment due to 16 May 1981 has been made.
Questions Nos. 14 and 15 are gone for written reply.
16.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware of the continuing and serious delays in the payment of various categories of benefits to social welfare recipients in Limerick city and of the consequent hardships caused; and, if so, if he has taken or proposes to take any action to improve the situation.
The position generally in relation to the payment of the various social welfare benefits, pensions and allowances is normal except in the case of disability benefit where some delays have been occurring since the beginning of this year.
All the pension books for old age, retirement, invalidity, widows pensions and so on, totalling approximately 404,000, were distributed at the various post offices and sub-post offices in time for payment at the increased rates provided for in the budget. The increased rates of unemployment benefit and unemployment assistance are also being paid to recipients at employment exchanges from the first week they were due.
As the Deputy is aware, a changeover from insurance numbers to RSI numbers came into effect from 5 January 1981 for the purpose of payment of benefit. The main difficulties in connection with this changeover arose on claims for disability benefit, due mainly to the fact that in many cases medical certificates and claim forms did not contain both numbers. This led to difficulty in identifying the claimants to whom these forms related. I am sure it will be appreciated that the changeover involved a major administrative change, affecting as it does over one million insured persons. Because of the magnitude of the change it was considered that some initial difficulties might arise until claimants became familiar with the new arrangements. Every effort was made, however, in advance to devise systems to overcome all foreseeable problems.
I would like to point out that there are on average some 70,000 disability benefit payments, including a pay-related element, made each week. This has been the level of payments for some time and this number of payments has been made each week throughout the period from the beginning of this year. These payments alone totalled almost £31 million between January and March.
While there have been serious difficulties in connection with the changeover, I can assure the Deputy that these were tackled promptly and no effort was being spared to deal with them. The various measures that have been taken have, I am glad to say, produced results and the position generally is not far from normal.
If, however, the Deputy is aware of any cases in the Limerick area in which he considers that claimants are experiencing hardship through delay in payment, I will arrange to have the cases investigated and payment of benefit issued as quickly as possible.
In view of the fact that we have so many social welfare queries down and the unusual delay, would the Minister tell us the best way a Deputy can get an answer to a particular problem? Is it by ringing or writing to the Department or by putting down a parliamentary question, which involves the Department in considerable expense?
The Deputy will appreciate that this method means considerable inconvenience in the Department and makes other work more difficult. Normal dealings with Deputies have to be set aside so that officials can deal with parliamentary questions. The Deputy mentioned the large number of questions on today's Order Paper. Many of them were put down before Easter but were still left on the Order Paper. Written answers would fit the bill in most cases because nearly all have been paid for some time.
We understood that from 1 May the staff would agree to the phones in the Department being put back on. We have been informed that the non-use of phones is associated with a grade claim across the civil service generally and until this matter is resolved the phones will not be put back on. This means we have communications difficulties, but we are doing everything we can to have the position resolved.
Many of us have had to resort to parliamentary questions. Despite the co-operation I get from the Minister's office, it must be admitted that the parliamentary question gets a reply in six days while letters written to the Department will get an acknowledgement but not a final reply for some weeks. I realise that putting down parliamentary questions takes up a great deal of time in the Department and is an expensive process, but Deputies have been so frustrated that they realise this is the best way to elicit information.
I have set my office aside to deal with Deputies' queries, and we have been doing our best to deal with them. I accept what the Deputy says in relation to parliamentary questions. The problem would not be so bad if most of these questions, which had been put down before Easter, and which have been dealt with, were taken as written. Our main problem is righting any anomalies which still exist.
Is the Minister aware that if a Deputy writes to the Department it can take a month before he gets an acknowledgement?
What happens is this. The question is put straight through to the section. The time of the staff dealing with parliamentary questions at that level is completely taken up and they are not available to write back to Deputies unless they work overtime, as they have been doing. We have increased the staff numbers to try to meet that situation. What Deputy Corish said is true. When a Deputy sends in a query an acknowledgement is sent out straightaway. When the query comes back from the section, it is attached to the Deputy's letter and a reply is prepared.
I got an acknowledgement from the Department today in response to a query I put down before Easter.
The Deputy is welcome to come to my Department and I will show him how hard everyone is working——
That is no consolation to my constituents.
These matters take priority. The Deputy's queries are passed to the sections——
We get a reply to parliamentary questions very quickly. This proves that the best way to elicit information is to put down parliamentary questions.
It is the only way.
But only at the expense of the other systems. Many of these questions could have been taken as written and we would not be taking up the time of the House since payments were made on 3 April, 1 April, 27 March and so on. This brings into question the reason why these questions are on today's Order Paper.
Will the Minister answer the next question?