Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 22 Oct 2003

Vol. 573 No. 1

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.

Dan Neville

Ceist:

87 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the length of time it takes to process and decide claims, on average, in each of the social welfare schemes; the length of time it takes for each scheme to go into payment once a decision is made; and the length of time, on average, it takes for arrears to issue. [24322/03]

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan)

My Department is committed to providing quality customer service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and entitlements issued as quickly as possible having regard to the eligibility conditions which apply. These conditions vary from scheme to scheme and may include establishment of the customer's social insurance record, an assessment of means, where appropriate, or an examination to ensure that medical conditions are fulfilled.

On average the length of time taken to award claims for disability benefit, the unemployment schemes, child benefit and family income supplement ranges from two to three weeks. Claims for old age, widowed and invalidity pensions take an average of six to eight weeks to process and cases where the conditions of entitlement are more complex, such as payments for carers, one parent families and disability allowance cases, currently require between ten and seventeen weeks on average to finalise.

Details of the average clearance times for new claims for the month of August 2003, and year to date including August, on a scheme by scheme basis are in the table which will be circulated in the Official Report.

Once a claim is decided payment is normally made within one week. For the year 2003 to date, the average time to issue pension arrears is 2.5 weeks.

The over-riding consideration in processing claims is to ensure that customers receive their correct entitlement and decisions are not taken until all appropriate information is received.

Improving customer service is a priority on my Department's agenda. In relation to clearance times, challenging performance targets have been set for all of the main schemes and these are published and reported on.

My Department is also introducing a major initiative to improve customer service which will use modern technology and business models to focus on meeting customer needs. A key element of the modernisation programme is to provide a pro-active service to customers where the nature of the scheme and the qualification criteria allow. The programme will also facilitate integration of services and greater efficiency which will have beneficial effects on the processing of other claims.

The first phase of this system was implemented for child benefit late last year and has enabled a radical re-engineering of the child benefit application process by dovetailing with the computerised birth registration data flowing from the modernisation of the civil registration service. As a result of these changes, child benefit will be awarded and put into payment automatically for second and subsequent children born to child benefit recipients. Partially completed claim forms will be issued automatically in other cases for signature and for instructions on how payment is to be made.

This service delivery modernisation programme will be extended to other schemes on a progressive basis. It will be some years before the benefits of the programme are fully realised and I am concerned to ensure that service levels are maintained and improved where possible in the meantime. To this end, my Department is engaged in an ongoing process to ensure that existing resources are prioritised to the greatest extent possible on service delivery areas.

Average weeks to award Social Welfare Claims

Claim Type	August 2003	Year to Date 2003
Old Age Contributory Pension	5.87	7.72
Retirement Pension	4.66	6.16
Widows Contributory Pension	4.15	4.05
Old Age Non Contributory Pension	6.67	7.25
Widows Non Contributory Pension	4.91	7.46
One Parent Family – Separated	17.14	17.54
One Parent Family – Unmarried	13.72	13.72
Household Benefits (Free schemes)	7.16	7.78
Unemployment Benefit	2.35	2.02
Unemployment Assistance	3.35	3.17
Disability Benefit	1.94	2.13
Child Benefit	3.67	3.67
Family Income Supplement	3.11	2.69
Invalidity Pension	6.49	7.46
Disability Allowance	10.56	10.82
Bereavement Grant	3.46	2.84
Carers Allowance	16.75	12.44.

Tom Hayes

Ceist:

88 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the recommendations of the working group established to undertake a review of the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme. [24329/03]

Paul Nicholas Gogarty

Ceist:

127 Mr. Gogarty asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on whether moneys provided by her Department for back to school payments are adequate. [24295/03]

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 88 and 127 together.

The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme was introduced in 1990. The scheme was designed to provide assistance towards the cost of school clothing and footwear for children attending primary and post-primary schools.

The scheme operates from the beginning of June to the end of September each year and is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards. It replaced the former public assistance footwear scheme, which was introduced in 1944, as well as taking over supplementary welfare allowance exceptional needs payments made in respect of school clothing.

A person may qualify for payment of a back to school clothing and footwear allowance if he-she is in receipt of a social welfare or health board payment, is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and has household income at or below certain set levels.

Under the scheme an allowance of €80 is payable in respect of qualified children aged from two to 11 years and an allowance of €150 is payable in respect of qualified children aged from 12 to 22 years. Since 1990, the payment rates for the scheme have increased by 192% in the case of children aged 12 years or more and by 152% in the case of those below 12 years. In the same period, the cost of clothing and footwear, as measured in the consumer price index, has fallen by some 25% and the levels of child benefit have increased very substantially.

In relation to the adequacy or otherwise of the payment rates, my Department established a working group to undertake a review of the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme as part of its expenditure review programme. The working group is undertaking a fundamental examination of all aspects of the scheme, including the rates of payment as well as the income limits, the means test, timing of payments, eligibility criteria and other issues. This review is almost complete. I will consider any changes to the scheme in the light of the recommendations of the working group.