Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 April 2016
28. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to employ additional staff to deal with the lengthy delays in assessing carer's allowance application forms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7333/16]
View answerMy Department, like all Government Departments and agencies, is required to operate within a staff ceiling figure and a commensurate administrative staffing budget, which for this Department involved a significant reduction in staff numbers for 2015 and a further reduction for 2016.
Within these constraints, the Department is focusing on prioritising the filling of critical posts. The staffing needs for all areas within the Department, including the Carer's Allowance area, are continuously reviewed, taking account of workloads, management priorities and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department.
The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the average time taken at present to decide a new Carer's Allowance application is running at nineteen weeks. Additional resources have recently been provided to the section in order to improve the waiting times for new applications.
