Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 21 Apr 1999

Vol. 503 No. 4

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Complaints.

Jan O'Sullivan

Question:

71 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the steps, if any, he will take to improve the social welfare decision making process which would lead to a reduction in the number of cases being referred to the Ombudsman; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10326/99]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern):

A total of 786 complaints in relation to my Department were received by the Ombudsman last year. This compared with a figure of 1,007 social welfare complaints in the previous year – a reduction of 22 per cent.

The figure of 786 complaints must be seen in the context of two million new and revised decisions made on social welfare claims in that year and represents some 0.04 per cent of total social welfare decisions. I am anxious to ensure that any cause for complaint by our customers is eliminated to the greatest extent possible.

My aim is to ensure that people get their social welfare entitlements as speedily and accurately as possible and that a high standard of customer service is applied. The vast majority of social welfare claims are dealt with promptly and without cause for complaint. My Department's customer service action plan outlines the principles of good customer service and the specific measures to be taken by the Department in pursuit of this. I believe that better information services have a vital role to play in this area. As part of our customer service plan, the Department is committed to taking a proactive approach in providing information that is clear, timely, accurate, available at all points of contact and that meets the needs of people with disabilities. We are also establishing a well-publicised, accessible, transparent and simple to use system of dealing with complaints about the quality of service provided. This is in line with a recommendation by the Ombudsman that all public bodies should set up an internal complaints system. A pilot system has already been tested in some of my Department's offices and the results are being used as part of the process of developing a system which can be extended across the organisation. The introduction of this system should reduce the degree for recourse to the Ombudsman in future.

Clearly I would like to see a situation where there was no social welfare complaints. However, there are limits to what can be done in this regard. For instance, in large proportion of social welfare cases the complaint is not upheld by the Ombudsman following investigation. Nevertheless, any person who is dissatisfied with a decision has the fundamental right to complain to the Ombudsman and have their complaint investigated. The Ombudsman has noted the high level of co-operation which exists between his office and my Department. I accept that there is scope for improvement in cases where it is found that the decision was incorrect or that inadequate information was given about the reasons for the decision. I am satisfied that the measures being taken by my Department, as mentioned above, will lead to a significant improvement in this area.