Vol. 490 No. 3
24 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his policy in relation to social welfare branch offices which are run by private individuals; the degree of control exercised by his Department over the running of these offices; his views on whether the contracts should stipulate the appropriate pay rates for the staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10106/98]
Service to customers of my Department is provided through a network of offices around the country, 57 of which are local offices staffed by Department staff and 71 of which are branch offices operated on a contract basis by independent operators on contract with the Department. Branch offices take claims for unemployment payments and carry out certain other tasks associated with processing those claims. Each branch office is under the control of a social welfare local office which carries out regular inspections of branch office operations.
Over the years my Department has been engaged in a programme of fundamental change in the way it delivers its services to the public. As a result of this programme of change, the departmentally staffed local offices now provide a wider range of services to customers, including more modern systems of payment. It is my intention that the improved level of service currently being availed of by customers of departmentally staffed local offices will also be made available to customers of branch offices.
Officials from my Department are currently in discussion with the Branch Managers' Association in relation to the future role of the branch office network and with a view to upgrading and modernising the level of service which these offices provide. A subgroup has recently been set up to consider the appropriate levels of remuneration for branch managers.
Branch managers' current contracts do not contain any stipulations regarding the actual remuneration levels of branch office staff which is a matter to be determined by managers and staff in the normal way. The terms of the contracts of branch managers are among the issues being covered by the discussions currently under way with the Branch Managers' Association.
