Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 April 2019
12. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeframe for completion of the reviews being carried out into persons affected by the changes to the State pension (contributory) in 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15653/19]
View answer16. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if extra staff will be hired to ensure completion of the reviews of the cases of persons affected by the changes to the State pension (contributory) in 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15654/19]
View answer21. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when all the cases will be examined under the review of pensioners entitlements which follows the introduction of a total contributions approach method for assessing pensioners that became eligible for the State pension after September 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15508/19]
View answerThe 2012 pension cut hit very hard because it reduced the weekly pension for many people. Six years on, the correction was very much needed. However, time is not on the side of the people who are losing out. Having their weekly payment corrected as soon as possible must be a priority, given there are 90,000 people losing out each week. How soon will those reviews be concluded so people can see that correction reflected in their weekly pension?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 16 and 21 together.
Since late September 2018, my Department has been planning and developing processes to review the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners born on or after 1 September 1946, who had a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement based on post-budget 2012 rate bands. These payments are being reviewed under the new total contributions 2012 model of pension calculation, which includes provision for home caring periods.
Reviews commenced on 13 February 2019, the day after I signed the necessary regulations, which together with provisions in the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registrations Act 2018 allow the increased payments to be made. As of 2 April 2019, 13,915 or 15% of reviews have been completed. Of these, 10,398 or 75% have resulted in an increase in payment for the pensioners concerned. The pensioners who did not qualify for an increase in payments will continue to receive exactly the same payment as heretofore.
As I stated at the outset, it will take a number of months to complete all the reviews due to the numbers involved and the individual nature of social insurance records. In some cases, it is necessary to engage in correspondence with the pensioner in order to clarify periods of caring, work and contribution histories. To date, over 36,900 requests for information have been sent out to pensioners. In order to process these reviews, 121 temporary staff have been recruited and trained and are now in our sections in Sligo and Donegal and it is planned to recruit a further eight staff this month. Based on experience to date, it is anticipated that it could take up to the end of September to complete all reviews.
What I have said previously and will repeat is that if we send out information requests to people and they do not reply to us, I have no intention of closing off the reviews. We will keep going and keep sending out reminders until every single one of the 90,000 people who were adversely affected by the rate band changes from 2012 have an opportunity to go through their file with one of our 121 staff to make sure they get what they are entitled to and any back payment they are due.
The figures suggest there are 90,000 people affected and there has been a staff increase of 120. Given some 1,200 to 1,300 cases are being processed per week, this suggests the 90,000 could take a year or a year and a half to process. Time is not on the side of these people. Is the Minister satisfied the Department has enough staff on that force to deal with this? It initially started off with 60 staff, increased to 70 last year, then to 100 and the Minister is now talking about 120. Has she underestimated the workload involved? Is she satisfied there are enough staff?
Is the 90,000 figure only for people on the contributory pension? There is also a cohort of people who chose to take the non-contributory pension because it paid them better than the contributory. Are they included in the 90,000 or is that figure an underestimation? Is the Minister's target realistic?
In selecting the people for early examination, was priority given to those cases where there was likely to be an increase in the pension following the review?
Nobody was prioritised. Letters were sent out randomly and nobody was particularly selected because of their age, the length of time or anything like that.
The ambition is for us to ensure that we carry out reviews of all 90,000 cases as quickly as we can.
In response to Deputy Aindreas Moynihan regarding the staging of the recruitment, that is how long it took us to find staff. It certainly was not our ambition to start off with 60 staff, before increasing the number to 80 and then 120. I am completely satisfied that the staffing levels are sufficient to ensure this process will be completed in a couple of months. It will certainly not take anywhere near as long as the Deputy suggested. I am also adamant that I will not tell the Deputy or anybody else that we are finishing on 1 June when people still not have given us the information required to allow their cases to be reviewed. In many cases, we can probably do reviews based on the information we have. Those cases are easier to review but there are many gaps where we do not have the information and that requires co-operation and information flow back and forth. To be fair and truthful, we had anticipated being able to do the vast majority of these reviews online, meaning we expected that if I emailed the Deputy today, he would email me back tomorrow. However, this approach does not quite work with some members of our older population and there is a delay in receiving responses when we send out requests for information.
