Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 October 2019
49. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the efforts being made to speed up the processing of applications for carer's allowance and benefit, disability allowance and invalidity pension; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43574/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraTo what extent can the processing of various claims be expedited to reduce in so far as possible the hardship caused to claimants for the benefits listed in Question No. 49, in particular, as well as for rent support and so on?
My Department is committed to providing a quality service for all of the people receiving payments from us, ensuring applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the qualification criteria. Payments under 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 also require more detailed investigation and interaction with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision-making process in some cases. Delays can also arise if information is required from social security organisations in other jurisdictions and where additional information has been requested from the applicant but remains outstanding.
In 2019 the average time to process new applications for carer's allowance and disability allowance is 14 weeks, while for invalidity pension applications the average time is nine weeks. Processing time for carer's benefit applications, as of September 2019, is ten weeks. I reassure the Deputy that claim processing and the length of time it takes are kept under active review, with additional and targeted attention focused on carer's allowance and disability allowance applications. It includes, since September, the assignment of a number of temporary staff to assist in processing new applications for carer's allowance and disability allowance, coupled with the implementation of a new business process for the front office-back office programme. This change is working well and initial outcomes are very positive. It is hoped to have the processing of applications under these schemes back within targets by the end of the year.
A similar focus on carer's benefit claim processing times in the past few months reduced processing times from 14 weeks in July to ten weeks in September. We can certainly see that when we put extra resources into areas, we get significant results. I assure the Deputy of my Department's continued attention in providing the best service we can in the most timely manner possible for the people we serve.
I welcome the improvements made. As time passes, we will glean more information in that regard. My only concern is the reference to average times, as averages have the potential to mislead because of vast differences between processing times for applications that are dealt with in the most expeditious and least expeditious way. Are the changes effected since September likely to bring about an improvement in processing times for cases that are outstanding the longest which previously have proved to be problematic?
I take on board the Deputy's comments. We report average times, but some cases take considerably longer to process. There are always reasons they take considerably longer. To his credit, the Deputy is one of the people who help with the most number of carer's allowance and disability allowance applications, but he will appreciate that in some cases where information is not readily available to us, processing of the applications can be delayed. I am genuinely heartened that our new front office-back office programme has provided for real efficiencies in how to turn around and utilise staff in every county and make the best use of our resources. When we added extra resources in the past few weeks because of the more efficient use of our staff, average waiting times reduced from 14 weeks to ten, which is really significant. We must ensure we get the processing time for carer's allowance applications to under 12 weeks, which is the stated objective. I would love to see us go even further as there are greater efficiencies from doing business online in order that we can bring down waiting times.
Should we look at cases with a view to determining whether hardship might ensue? I fully accept the need for means tests or medical tests, etc., but in some cases there is extreme hardship and a necessity to invoke some clause to ensure the people who might be in that category will not be left waiting the longest time.
I know exactly what the Deputy is saying, but I am not sure how we could fix it, as we do not categorise claims as they come in on the basis of people's means. They are classified according to the date they come in and dealt with sequentially. I acknowledge that there are people who are financially pressed when they are waiting for an application to be approved. The community welfare office system genuinely reaches out and, I hope, helps or looks after people in such a period, whether it is eight, ten or 14 weeks. It might be very difficult to classify recipients according to this status of means from an information technology perspective. It might not be fair if people could skip the queue in that way. I know that the Deputy has helped many people and that where there is a genuine need, it must be met by community welfare services.
I thank the Minister.
