I propose to take Questions Nos. 410, 411 and 415 together.
In 2012, a total of 432,557 claims for jobseeker’s allowance, jobseeker’s benefit and one-parent family payment were received in my Department’s Local Offices. At the 31 December 2012 there were 29,556 claims (6.8% of the total received) awaiting decision. A breakdown of the number of claims awaiting a decision by scheme together with the average waiting time from date of application to award in weeks is contained in the tabular statement. It is to be noted that both jobseekers allowance and one parent family payments are subject to an assessment of means and other qualifying conditions. Accordingly, processing times are longer than for jobseekers benefit which is a PRSI contributions based payment.
Scheme
|
Pending Claims end of December 2012
|
Average Time to Award (Weeks)
|
Jobseeker’s Allowance
|
18,464
|
4
|
Jobseeker’s Benefit
|
7,723
|
2
|
One Parent Family Payment
|
3,369
|
14
|