Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 March 2013
176. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide, in tabular form, the shortest, longest and average waiting time yearly between 2006 and 2012 for family income support applications. [15694/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra177. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of family income support applicants who are waiting over three months, six months, nine months and 12 months for their claims to be processed. [15695/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 176 and 177 together.
A major initiative to eliminate FIS backlogs has been in progress since November 2012 and is due to complete at the end of this month. FIS claims, both new and renewal, received on or after 5 November 2012 are currently being processed on receipt. At the beginning of November 2012, there were over 15,000 new and renewal claims awaiting decision. At present, processing of renewals is up to date, except for a small number of cases which require further information in order to make a decision. With regard to the new claims backlog which is in the process of being cleared, there are approximately 600 waiting to be examined and it is expected that these will be processed by the end of this month. All these claims date from mid-October 2012 and, therefore, are waiting between 3 and 6 months.
The total number of claims, new and renewal combined which have been processed and are awaiting additional information in order to make a decisions as outlined above is 2,230. The information required in order to finalise these cases is from the claimant or employer, a report from a Social Welfare Inspector or a report on family circumstances and income from another EU country. Of those 2,230 claims, approximately 530 are waiting less than 3 months, 1185 are waiting between 3 and 6 months, 300 are waiting between 6 and 9 months, 115 are waiting 9 to 12 months and 100 are waiting over 12 months. These figures are to be seen in the context of an average of 50,000 new and renewal claims received annually and in excess of 30,000 claims decided in the last 5 months alone.
The average waiting time in weeks for Family Income Supplement applications from 2008 to 2012 is shown in the table. There is currently no waiting time for processing renewals and new claims are processed within two weeks. Information prior to 2008 is not available nor is the shortest/longest waiting times.
|
Year |
New Applications |
Renewal Applications |
|
2008 |
13 |
5 |
|
2009 |
8 |
8 |
|
2010 |
10 |
10 |
|
2011 |
17 |
18 |
|
2012 |
16 |
15 |
|
March 2013 |
2 |
0 |
