Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 October 2022
496. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection the processing time and backlog in terms of the number of applications for new invalidity pension claims; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51148/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is committed to providing a quality service to all customers, ensuring that claims are processed as quickly as possible and that backlogs are kept to a minimum.
Processing times for new applications vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. 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. Delays can 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.
The processing target for the Invalidity Pension (IP) scheme is to award 90% of applications within 10 weeks. Currently the average number of weeks to award an IP claim in September 2022 is 9 weeks and the average number of weeks to award an IP claim in 2022 to the end of September was 7 weeks. There were 1,920 new applications awaiting decision at the end of September.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
