Vol. 462 No. 1
24 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will review the case of a person (details supplied) in County Cork who through ignorance of her rights and entitlements did not receive her contributory widows pension until six years after her husband's death; and if he will grant her arrears of pension back to the date of entitlement. [3884/96]
Social Welfare legislation specifies that a claim for a survivor's contributory pension must be made in normal circumstances not later than three months following the death of a spouse. If a widow or widower first submits a claim after that three month period, and there is good reason for the delay, the pension can be backdated by more than three months. However, the legislation also specifies that no claim can be backdated more than six months prior to the date of claim.
A pension claim from the person concerned was received by the Department in April 1994. A decision was made initially to award her widow's contributory pension with effect from January 1994, three months prior to the receipt of her claim. Subsequently it was decided to backdate the award by a further three months — that is, six months in total — to October 1993. Accordingly, the person concerned has received her pension backdated to the maximum period allowable in legislation.
Any further backdating of pension award for longer periods, in late claim cases such as that of the person concerned, would require a change in regulations. The Department is at present carrying out a review of these provisions. I should point out, however, that any relaxation in the present backdating arrangements would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in the light of other priorities.
