I wish to assure the Deputy that prompt processing of claims remains a priority for me. Each scheme area is continuously monitored and reviewed to ensure customers are responded to as quickly as possible. In recent years, backlogs have not been a feature of many scheme areas such as pensions, maternity benefit, illness benefit, domiciliary care allowance, and child benefit. I am proud to inform the Deputy that the Department has had major success in clearing the backlogs which have been a feature of some other scheme areas. For instance, new claim backlogs have been eliminated in family income supplement, invalidity pension, carer's allowance and redundancy. Disability allowance backlogs are in the process of being eliminated. In addition, backlogs in local office-managed schemes continue to reduce, particularly in the one parent family scheme.
Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the applicant, particularly in the case of illness-related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested payments can require more detailed investigation and interaction with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision making process. Delays can also arise if information is required from social security organisations in other jurisdictions and where additional information has been requested from the applicant but remains outstanding.
The Department is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. All claims are registered promptly, in some schemes this is done through the scanning of claim documents onto the system while in other schemes this involves an officer inputting data. The time taken to perform means tests and/or medical examinations where these are required is not measured separately, while a determination on habitual residence, where required, is an integral part of the decision making process.
As part of the Department’s programme of service delivery modernisation, a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented in recent years. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed to ensure that processing capability is maximised.
In addition, the staffing needs of the Department are regularly reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources.
Work on clearing backlogs in some scheme areas, such as carers allowance and invalidity pension has temporarily distorted the time taken to clear claims due to the high level of reviews and appeals following backlog clearances, but the progress made will be reflected in processing times in the coming months. As mentioned, new claim backlogs have been eliminated in carer's allowance, invalidity pension and family income supplement. All backlogged disability allowance applications have been decided, where possible, with the remainder awaiting additional information necessary in order to decide the claim.
The new Intreo service is currently being rolled-out and implemented on a phased basis. This new service integrates employment and income supports and provides for a streamlined and personalised service to clients in accessing job opportunities and availing of supports to enable them to get back to work at the earliest possible opportunity. The Intreo Centres also include a single integrated decision-making team that integrate and streamline the processes formerly undertaken by the different agencies now amalgamated into the Department. The benefits of the integrated decisions process are already visible in terms of shorter decision times and in the reduced recourse to supplementary payments in offices where integrated decisions are in operation.
If an applicant for any of the Department’s schemes is experiencing financial hardship, they may be eligible for a short-term supplementary welfare allowance payment, administered by the community welfare service of the Department. This is a means tested weekly payment, subject to certain terms and conditions, which provide an immediate basic income support to eligible people whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants.
