Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Jul 1997

Vol. 480 No. 2

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Arrears.

Derek McDowell

Ceist:

272 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for Social Welfare the measures, if any, he will take to comply with the recommendations of the Ombudsman in relation to payment of social welfare arrears; and whether he will alter the regulations to permit backdating of payments to the date on which the entitlement arose. [13833/97]

Minister for Social Welfare (Mr. D. Ahern)

The recommendations referred to by the Deputy are contained in the report of the Ombudsman in relation to three separate complaints which were made against the refusal by the Department to pay full arrears of pension to the complainants who, for varying reasons, were late in making their claims.

Full backdating has been allowed and all arrears due on that basis have been paid in two cases. In these cases, the persons concerned did not claim old age contributory pension in time but they were in receipt of other pensions from the Department. In paying full arrears in these cases, the Department is treating the other pension claims as claims for old age contributory pension and will apply this principle in similar cases in future.

In the third case, the late claim was allegedly due to incorrect advice being given by the Department. The Ombudsman concluded on the balance of probabilities that the person concerned called to the Department on two occasions, that he was inadequately advised as to his pension entitlements and that his failure to claim pension at those times was partly due to this failure to adequately advise him. The Ombudsman recommended payment of arrears from April 1986 in this case plus compensation for the delay in making this payment. Arrears on this basis have been paid.

Apart from the Department's specific responses in these three cases, provision has been made in this year's Social Welfare Act for more general improvements in this area, including the maximum period for which arrears of old age (contributory) pension, retirement pension, contributory widow's and widower's pension and contributory orphan's allowance can be paid has been doubled from six months to 12 months. This new provision applies to claims made on or after 1 January 1997; payment of arrears of up to six months are now being provided for in the case of late claims for family income supplement. Under the former arrangements, there was no provision for the payment of arrears of FIS and power to further extend the period for which arrears may be paid subject to such conditions and in such circumstances as may be prescribed. Regulations for this purpose will be made later this year.

In addition to the recommendations relating to the three specific cases, the Ombudsman made five general recommendations; the Department is responding to the first three as follows: the information services will continue to be developed with a view to maximising the public's awareness of the scope and application of entitlements and, in particular, the requirement to make claims in time and the effects on entitlements of not so doing; arrangements have been in place for some time now requesting claimants who submit late claims to indicate the reason the claims are late and the notification of potential contributory old age pensioners of a possible entitlement in advance of pension age has been identified as an important objective and is being pursued in the context of the redevelopment of the Department's pensions computer system.

In relation to the fourth general recommmendation concerning the use of the existing extrastatutory discretion to pay arrears of pension, this is being exercised in cases where the Department is at fault, where hardship would otherwise arise and where the late claim is caused by mental or physical incapacity of the claimant.

The fifth recommendation concerns the principle of proportionality in the application of provisions affecting late claims. This will be considered, along with other issues raised in the Ombudsman's fourth general recommendations, when the regulations are made to further extend the period for which arrears may be paid. These regulations are being drafted at present.

The payment of full pension arrears in all claims to contributory pensions would give rise to significant additional costs. The extent to which further progress is possible at this time will be covered in the regulations mentioned which will specify the circumstances in which further arrears will be paid and the conditions which will apply.