Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 October 2015
177. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the average waiting times from the point of application to a decision being made in respect of each social welfare payment. [34045/15]
View answerA breakdown of the average time, where available, to award claims during August 2015 is detailed in the following tabular statement.
Processing times vary by scheme reflecting their differing legal eligibility requirements such as income/means limits and medical status. The processing times provided in the table also incorporate the impact of overall processing times of the appeals process.
|
- |
Average Time to Award Claims August 2015 |
|
Scheme |
Average Time to Award Claims (Weeks) |
|
Jobseekers Benefit |
3 |
|
Jobseekers Allowance |
3 |
|
One-Parent Family Payment |
9 |
|
State Pension Contributory (Domestic) |
4 |
|
Widow, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory Pension |
2 |
|
State Pension Non-Contributory |
20 |
|
Household Benefits |
3 |
|
Free Travel |
3 |
|
Supplementary Welfare Allowance |
1 |
|
Family Income Supplement (New Claims) |
3 |
|
Child Benefit (Domestic and FRA) |
2 |
|
Child Benefit (EU regulation) |
29 |
|
Carer's Allowance* |
35 |
|
Disability Allowance* |
32 |
|
Domiciliary Care Allowance |
15 |
|
Invalidity Pension* |
21 |
|
Illness Benefit |
1 |
* The average time to award state pension non-contributory, disability allowance, carers' allowance and invalidity pension applications at the end of August was 20, 32, 35 and 21 weeks respectively. New applications for state pension non-contributory are currently decided upon inside 14.5 weeks, disability allowance are currently decided upon inside 9.7 weeks, carer’s allowance are currently decided upon inside 16.5 weeks on average and invalidity pension claims are currently decided upon within 3.8 weeks of receipt. The overall average processing times reflect appeals in the system.
