Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Question:138. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection if the processing of family income supplement has been ceased until after Christmas; and if so, the reason for same. [51923/12]
View answerWednesday, 21 November 2012
Questions (138)
Written answers
The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers.
The average waiting time for new FIS claims is currently 16 weeks and for renewal applications is 17 weeks. At the end of October, there were 7,267 new FIS applications and 7,864 renewal applications awaiting decision. The volume of FIS claims on hands and the delays in processing are a consequence of continued strong claim intake.
An in-depth business process improvement (BPI) project has recently been completed for the FIS scheme. This project focused on optimising output and customer service and the elimination of backlogs. Part of the project was a detailed examination of workloads and a full assessment of existing capacity within the area and what capacity is needed in order to process the volumes of claims, both new and renewal, being received on a weekly basis.
A plan has now been devised and implementation commenced on 5 November 2012. This plan sees the normal weekly new claim and renewal intake processed without delay while the backlog is ring-fenced and a focused team assigned to this work with a clear plan for its elimination.
The first step taken to permanently eliminate the built-up of backlogs of FIS claims is to put in place sufficient capacity and suitable structures and processes to deal with the weekly intake of work. This has been done in the case of the FIS scheme and the first week of operation has been very successful in this regard, achieving its target output.
This is not to say that the backlog of claims awaiting decision is being ignored or that work has ceased on it. On the contrary, a separate team including additional temporary resources has been identified and is already assigned and working on the claims in question. This team is fully focussed on the elimination of the backlog of claims in the shortest possible timeframe, concentrating in the first instance on those claims which were previously in payment but where payment has expired.
It is expected that the backlog will be fully eliminated by the end of March 2013. Claims which are approved by the backlog team will be backdated to the date of claim or the date of expiry of the previous claim, as appropriate, and all arrears due will be paid.