Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2014
559. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection if citizens' applications for welfare and pensions and their associated files are sent via e-mail or post, the processing times for all forms of applications to her Department; and the associated postage costs. [14054/14]
View answerThe Department administers over 70 schemes and services through a network of local and central offices throughout the country. In some instances customers call into their local office to submit a claim, while in others claims are made by post or online. For example, applications for State Contributory Pension are proactively initiated by the Department where there is a known entitlement, with the customer given a unique key to enable them to go online to complete their application. In the case of jobseeker's assistance and jobseeker's benefit these claims are made in person at the customer’s local office with no transfer of files required except in the case of an appeal. In addition, it should be noted that the Departments systems are set up to make information accessible throughout the Departments network, thereby greatly reducing the need to transfer files or applications.
It is not departmental policy under data protection to send customer files by e-mail. Postal costs are not broken down in such a way that could provide an estimate of the amount spent solely on this function. The following table sets out the processing times on the main schemes operated by the Department during February 2014.
|
Overall Claim Processing Performance |
Average weeks to award new claims, February 2014 |
Average weeks to award all claims including appeals, February 2014 |
|
Jobseekers Benefit |
|
1 |
|
Jobseekers Allowance |
|
3 |
|
One-Parent Family Payment |
|
13 |
|
State Pension Contributory (Dom) |
|
7 |
|
State Pension Transition (Dom) |
|
5 |
|
Widow(er)'s Contributory Pension |
|
2 |
|
State Pension Non-Contributory |
|
19 |
|
Widow(ers) Non Contributory Pension |
|
13 |
|
Household Benefits |
|
1 |
|
Free Travel |
|
3 |
|
Domiciliary Care Allowance |
|
9 |
|
Supplementary Welfare Allowance |
|
1 |
|
Bereavement Grant - Sligo |
|
5 |
|
Child Benefit (Domestic & FRA) |
|
2 |
|
Child Benefit (EU Regulation) |
|
28 |
|
Family Income Supplement (New) |
|
4 |
|
Carer's Allowance |
12 |
34 |
|
Disability Allowance |
11 |
31 |
|
Invalidity Pension |
9 |
38 |
|
Bereavement Grant - Longford |
|
1 |
|
Illness Benefit |
|
1 |
