Social Welfare Offices

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 May 2018

Thursday, 3 May 2018

Questions (19)

John Brady

Question:

19. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will report on the conclusion of talks between her Department and an organisation (details supplied) dealing specifically with the agreed financial arrangement put in place; her plans to distribute the funds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19259/18]

Written answers

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection

My Department currently has 58 Branch Offices at various locations throughout the country. Services are provided through this Branch Office network in areas which are not directly served by a Department operated Intreo Centre. Each Branch Office is privately operated and managed by a Branch Manager under a contract for service with the Department. My Department is anxious to ensure that the services provided by the Department’s Intreo Centres and Branch Offices are aligned so that all customers nationwide are provided with broadly similar services. On foot of this, my officials engaged in discussions with the Branch Managers Association (BMA), a representative group of Branch Managers who presented the views of its members, under the chairmanship of an agreed facilitator regarding the Department’s proposals for a new service delivery model.

Talks between the Department and the BMA concluded on 29th March. Non-binding recommendations were issued by the facilitator to both parties on 4th April and both sides have agreed to accept these recommendations.

These recommendations, together with previous recommendations from the facilitator in December 2017 on the revised remuneration model, provide a framework within which services will be delivered on behalf of the Department by Branch Managers.

Letters to each individual Branch Manager detailing the service delivery changes required by the Department and the revised remuneration model issued on 26 April 2018. Once a Branch Manager accepts these proposals in writing, the new remuneration proposal, back dated to 1 January 2018, will be put in place for that individual Branch Manager.