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Social Welfare Benefits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 April 2012

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Ceisteanna (26, 27, 28)

John McGuinness

Ceist:

21 Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting lists for welfare claims in her Department; the measures she has taken to address this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20565/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

35 Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Social Protection the steps she is taking to address the delays in processing contributory and non-contributory applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20626/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 35 together.

The Department is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. As is apparent from the data in the following table, schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of illness related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested payments can also require more detailed investigation and interaction with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision process. As part of the Department's programme of service delivery modernisation, a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented in recent years. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed to ensure that processing capability is maximised.

The staffing needs of the Department are regularly reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources. The Department will continue to source available staff to fill critical vacancies by way of redeployment, or transfer from within the Department and other government departments, taking account of the employment control framework (ECF) target, as determined by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Since May 2008, some 990 staff have been assigned to the Department to fill critical vacancies and additional posts allocated to deal with the increased volume of claims. Taking into account the numbers of staff who have left the Department and the vacancies that exist currently, a net total of 226 additional staff have been assigned to the Department. The Department also makes judicious use of overtime and employs temporary staff as appropriate to address particular service issues as they arise.

The following table sets out detailed information on the claim processing times and performance achieved across the wide range of schemes in the Department:

Table 1: Claim processing target times and performance, January-March 2012

Scheme type:

2012 Claims target 90% processed by

2012 (January-March) Percentage of claims processed within target

State Pension (contributory)

due date

92%

State Pension (transitional)

6 wks

79%

State pension (non-contributory)

10 wks

59%

Widow(er)’s Pension (contributory)

6 wks

91%

Widow(er)’s Pension (non-contributory) pension and one parent family payment (widow)

10 wks

51%

One Parent Family

10 wks

44%

Household Benefits

4 wks

90%

Bereavement Grant

4 wks

96%

Invalidity Pension

6 wks

8%

Family Income Supplement — New Claims

6 wks

11%

Disability Allowance

12 wks

30%

Carer’s Benefit

n/a

n/a

Carer’s Allowance

12 wks

n/a

Jobseeker’s Benefit

3 wks

82%

Jobseeker’s Allowance

6 wks

76%

Illness Benefit

1 wk

81%

Occupational Injury Benefit — Interim Illness Benefit

1 wk

84%

Maternity Benefit

due date

97%

Child Benefit — Domestic — EU

4 wksn/a

79%

Domiciliary Care Allowance

7 wks

62%

Back to Education Allowance

Applicants for BTEA are already in receipt of another social welfare payment before a decision is made on their entitlement to the Allowance.

Jerry Buttimer

Ceist:

22 Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Social Protection if she has any methods in place for checking if recipients of rent allowance are paying the rent due to their landlord; when the rent is not being paid if is there any facility to pay rent allowance directly to the landlord; if there any direct consequences for the person withholding the rent allowance payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20342/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

The purpose of rent supplement is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are currently approximately 95,000 persons in receipt of rent supplement, with €436m provided for in 2012. Under the relevant Social Welfare legislative provisions, the Department's relationship is with the tenant; the tenant makes the application for rent supplement and payment is made to the tenant. Rent supplement is specifically for the benefit of tenants to assist them with their accommodation needs.

Legislation does however provide for the making of a rent supplement payment to another person on behalf of the recipient, at the tenant's request and with the consent of the Department. Almost 20,000 (21%) rent supplement payments are made to a person other than the rent supplemented tenant, for example to a relative, a landlord or landlord's agent.

As part of the Department's ongoing review of rent supplement claims, landlords are given an opportunity to bring to the attention of the Department situations where a tenant has fallen into arrears with their rental payments. In addition, it is open to any landlord to bring to the attention of the Department any instance where a tenant is receiving rent supplement but is not paying the rent. Where an officer becomes aware that a person receiving rent supplement is not using that supplement to meet housing costs, payment of the supplement is suspended and the matter investigated. Where a landlord has a grievance in relation to the non-payment of rent by a tenant, s/he may apply to the Private Residential Tenancies Board to have the dispute resolved through the board's dispute resolution process.

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