Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 November 2020
131. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applicants for the pandemic unemployment payment that are due arrears as a result of the heavy workload in her Department; when they can expect to receive these payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38948/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince the introduction of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme in March, approximately 815,000 people have applied for payment and in some cases, they have done so on a number of occasions as they moved in and out of employment or where their employer availed of the Revenue Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. Consequently, there are over 1.4 million applications to be examined to determine if arrears are due. To date, over 13 million individual payments have issued over a 36 week period.
Arrears in respect of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will arise under two broad headings. Firstly, there may have been an initial time lag in the commencement of payments. During the month of March, my Department received and processed jobseeker claims equivalent in number to a three year claim-load. Almost 59,000 people were paid in the first week of the scheme, increasing to 283,000 people in the following week and over 507,000 people in the third week of the scheme. The focus was on putting claims into payment as quickly as possible was and it was not possible to generate arrears payments at the time. Secondly, arrears may also arise in respect of individual weeks where claims could not be processed due to incomplete applications or data mismatches.
My Department is keenly aware that many people are due some arrears and that every case will be different. In order to address an issue of this scale, my Department has developed an automated process, which will examine each case and look at their overall entitlement to payment and match this against their payment history. The work involved is complex as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment system itself evolved from a manual applications system to one where applications were submitted online and paid over two different payment platforms (one from March to July and the second from July to date). Final testing and implementation of the automated process is currently underway with a view to issuing payments before the end of the year and as soon as possible.
I hope that this clarifies matters for the Deputy.
