Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 29 Jun 2000

Vol. 522 No. 4

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.

Michael Ring

Question:

198 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people who have had their unemployment assistance and unemployment benefit disallowed, by a monthly and county to county basis, since January 1999. [18923/00]

Michael Ring

Question:

199 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of claims disallowed from January 1999 to date on the grounds that the person in question failed to satisfy the statutory conditions of genuinely seeking suitable employment, giving details for both unemployment assistance and unemployment benefit claims; and the number of these claims which were successfully appealed by the applicants. [18924/00]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 and 199 together.

To be entitled to an unemployment payment a person must satisfy the statutory conditions of being capable of, being available for, and genuinely seeking but unable to obtain suitable employment.

Where a deciding officer decides that a person does not fulfil the conditions the claim is formally disallowed. Deciding officers are statutorily appointed. Anybody who is not satisfied with a deciding officer's decision may appeal to the independent social welfare appeals office.

From January 1999 to end May 2000 some 6,606 claims were disallowed on the grounds that the person in question failed to satisfy the statutory condition of genuinely seeking suitable employment. Of these 2,924 were claiming unemployment benefit and 3,682 were claiming unemployment assistance.

In addition 3,208 unemployment benefit claims and 6,675 unemployment assistance claims were disallowed on the grounds that the claimants were not available for employment.

Details of disallowances for each month are set out in the attached table. Figures are not main tained on a county by county basis as the geographical areas covered by social welfare local offices cut across county boundaries in many instances.

Apart from those whose claims were disallowed for failure to fulfil the statutory conditions, substantial numbers of persons withdrew their claims or ceased claiming following interview by my Department. These are not included in the figures quoted. If a person is dissatisfied with the deciding officer's decision s/he has a right of appeal to the social welfare appeals office. It is not possible to provide information on the outcome of appeals from the disallowances referred to. However in the period from January 1999 to May 2000, 5,744 appeals relating to unemployment payments were received in that office. Of these, 3,028 related to unemployment assistance and 2,716 to unemployment benefit. These figures include persons disallowed for reasons other than the "not genuinely seeking" and "not available" conditions.

Of the unemployment payment appeals dealt with by the appeals office during the period in question, 28% were decided wholly or partly in favour of the appellant and 72% were not successful.

Unemployment Benefit

1999	Not GSW	Not Available
January	78	147
February	120	188
March	105	178
April	155	191
May	140	157
June	119	173
July	219	176
August	167	148
September	179	131
October	217	214
November	210	237
December	179	193
(Sub-total	1,888	2,133)
January 2000	156	181
February	183	244
March	272	269
April	204	176
May	221	205
(Sub-total	1,036	1,075)
Total	2,924	3,208

Unemployment Assistance

1999	Not GSW	Not Available
January	110	371
February	124	382
March	151	328
April	214	377
May	179	303
June	162	361
July	212	472
August	206	410

1999	Not GSW	Not Available
September	157	424
October	242	543
November	231	458
December	235	365
(Sub-total	2,223	4,794)
January 2000	244	393
February	304	435
March	367	476
April	248	286
May	296	291
(Sub-total	1,459	1,881)
Total	3,682	6,675