Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
2484. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason that 20% of child benefit claims were not awarded within processing time standards, according to the public service performance report 2017. [33280/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to assure the Deputy that there has been no undue delay in the processing of child benefit claims during the past year. Claim statistics for 2017 show that new claims (32,100) took an average of 3 weeks to award. Child benefit is a monthly payment with entitlement beginning in the month after birth; therefore most claims are processed before the first payment is due.
The administrative process for new child benefit claims has been improved in recent years to automate the issuing of an online application form or a partially completed paper application form once the birth is registered. Most claims are processed within 3 weeks from when the completed claim is received in the Department but a small number require further information to establish entitlement and these add to the average processing time. During 2017, the average number of claims on hand was 1,560 and with 627 claims processed each week, this represents an average of 2.5 weeks processing work at any given time.
Child benefit section also extended 66,305 claims where a child reached 16 years of age and had a continuing entitlement, with an average processing time of 1 week. The Department also added 33,885 children to existing claims, again with an average 1 week to award.
I trust that clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
