The Letterkenny office administers the child benefit and treatment benefit schemes. Service at the office was affected by an industrial dispute which commenced in October last year and gave rise to backlogs which continued to affect the service for some time after the dispute ended towards the end of last year. In order to concentrate the staff resource on processing the claims intake and clearing the backlog, normal telephone service had to be suspended for some time. Backlogs were cleared and claim processing returned to pre-dispute levels during this period. Normal telephone service was resumed in August. There are now no significant delays on the treatment benefit side in terms of claim processing or the telephone service.
On the child benefit side, claim processing is now generally at acceptable levels for a monthly payment. Claims for new families are being processed in four weeks and for families claiming for additional children in two weeks.
At this time of year there is a seasonal peak in the case of claims for children over 16 who resume full-time education. The overall volume of telephone calls increases as a result. Staff are being redeployed as circumstances allow to deal with the increased volumes of telephone calls but the over-riding priority is to clear the claims as quickly as possible. The situation is being monitored on an ongoing basis and every effort is being made to minimise any inconvenience to customers while this seasonal claims influx is being addressed.
The situation this year is also affected by the preparations for a new computer system which will come into service very shortly. Its introduction represents the first phase in a programme of change which has the capacity to change the way my Department works and interacts with its customers. In the child benefit context, the immediate benefits will include improved processing times for claims and a better service to customers, including system generated notices to alert them to their potential entitlements under the scheme.