Vol. 472 No. 2
18 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Social Welfare in relation to the delay in processing returned pension books following the death of a recipient, if he will allow this service to be dealt with through local social welfare offices to speed up the matter for dependants who may experience financial pressure at this time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22391/96]
Where a pension book is returned to the Department, together with relevant documentation concerning the death of a pensioner, payment of pension due is normally issued to the appropriate person within one week of receipt in the Department. New systems and procedures were recently put in place to ensure this speed of response. In all, 6,000 cases are dealt with each year and the system is operating satisfactorily.
Where books are returned without any supporting documentation, inquiries must be made to establish the reason for the return of the books and in these cases payments, where due, are made as quickly as possible after the necessary information is received.
Where the surviving spouse of a deceased pensioner has an automatic entitlement to a contributory widow's or widower's pension, the new entitlement is normally issued within six weeks in respect of which the payments after death are made. Pension books are usually returned to the Department's offices in Sligo or Longford, either directly or through the local post office. People can contact their local social welfare office if they wish where the staff will advise on the documentation needed and do all they can to ensure the speedy issue of payments due.
Local access in this way is positively encouraged. To facilitate the transaction of business at local level, continuing development of local offices is planned to ensure that people have improved access to services, better privacy facilities, better information and speedy attention to their needs. At the same time, ways of improving access and transacting business by telephone are under consideration.
I thank the Minister for his reply. It is a sad experience for a family when a spouse dies and there are additional financial problems in terms of funeral expenses. I ask the Minister to consider if the books can be issued from local social welfare offices. I have experience of this matter and there is a longer gap than two weeks in the return of books. Once the documentation has been sent to the Department, a book should be immediately returned through the local social welfare office.
I undertake to have the matter examined for the Deputy and I will get back to him on it.
I thank the Minister.
