John O'Mahony
Question:550 Deputy John O’Mahony asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of claims awaiting payment of their insolvency payment claim; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18266/12]
View answerWednesday, 18 April 2012
Questions (541, 542)
John O'Mahony
Question:551 Deputy John O’Mahony asked the Minister for Social Protection the length of time it is taking to process insolvency payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18267/12]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 550 and 551 together.
The purpose of the Insolvency Payments Scheme is to protect pay-related entitlements of employees whose employer has become legally insolvent as defined under the Insolvency Payments Acts, 1984 to 2004. Under the scheme, employees may claim, normally through a liquidator or receiver, arrears of pay, holiday pay, pay in lieu of notice and various other entitlements that may be owed to them by their employer. All payments are made from the Social Insurance Fund.
There are two processing streams for insolvency claims. A new online system was introduced in October 2011. The Department is currently processing online claims submitted correctly through this system, received in January 2012. Manual claims, submitted since October 2011, are also processed as part of this stream but take longer to process due to the need to enter the manual claims onto the new system. The Department is currently processing claims in this category which were received in July 2011.
The most common type of claim received under the Insolvency Scheme is for arrears of wages and/or arrears of holiday pay and /or minimum notice. Currently, there are 4,654 claims of this nature on hand.
In addition, there are approximately 11,000 pension related claims awaiting processing. Pension claims for employees that are nearing pension age are processed, so that their entitlements on retirement are fully met. However, in processing terms, priority is given to non-pension claims, as these claims provide an immediate relief for employees.
Question No. 552 withdrawn