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Carer's Allowance Delays

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2012

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Questions (350)

Tom Fleming

Question:

350. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures she has taken to address the unacceptable waiting lists for carer's allowance applications; the timeframe to process applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56608/12]

View answer

Written answers

I acknowledge that the time taken to process carer’s allowance claims at present is not satisfactory but I am satisfied that the Department is taking appropriate action to resolve the situation.

Carer’s allowance section has recently completed a major service delivery modernisation project to improve the efficiency with which it processes applications from clients for carer’s allowance. The project involved the development of IT functionality and associated business process re-organisation. Full deployment of the new system for Carer’s Allowance was completed in June 2012.

Following the completion of the modernisation project, an in-depth business process improvement (BPI) project was completed for the carer’s allowance scheme. This project focused on optimising output and customer service and the reduction of backlogs. The outcome of the review is the division of work into two streams. One concentrates on dealing with new claim intake and processes these without delay and the other on the backlog which is ring-fenced with a clear and targeted plan for its elimination. Implementation of the plan commenced on Monday 3 September and is being closely monitored and managed to ensure it achieves its objectives. A noted increase in the number of new claims processed has been achieved with claims processed substantially exceeding claim intake in recent months. However, it will take a number of months before the backlog is cleared. The allocation of available resources to this task continues to be monitored in order that the backlog is eliminated in the shortest possible timeframe.

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