Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

The significant increase in the number of redundancy payment claims lodged with the redundancy payments section of my Department in the latter part of 2008 and to date in 2009 is unprecedented and is giving rise to delays in the processing of redundancy payments for individuals and companies within a reasonable timeframe. The scale of the challenge is evident from the statistics which indicate that, at the end of the first quarter of 2009, the number of new claims lodged with my Department was 19,742, which equates to almost 50% of the entire level of applications lodged in 2008. It is equivalent to 78% of applications lodged in 2007. The number of claims received is averaging 1,600 per week. The Tánaiste and I are acutely aware of the difficulties which the inability to deliver an acceptable turnaround of redundancy rebate payments gives rise to for both individual employees and the business community. We are taking steps to address the issue.

Until mid-2008, our customer service targets for processing correctly completed redundancy claims were, in order of priority, four to six weeks for statutory redundancy lump sum claims to employees whose employers failed to pay the statutory entitlement; six weeks where claims were correctly submitted on-line; and ten plus weeks for manual claims sent in by employers. By and large these targets were met.

However, because of the huge surge in the number of claims received in redundancy payments in 2008, customer service targets have slipped as existing staff levels are insufficient to cope with such a significant increase in claim numbers. Actual timeframes being achieved are, in order of priority, between six and eight plus weeks for statutory lump sum payments to employees whose employers had failed to pay the statutory entitlement; 12 plus weeks for correctly submitted on-line claims; and 16 plus weeks for manual claims sent in by employers.

There has been a reallocation of an additional nine persons to the redundancy payments section since the start of the year and I have identified an additional 12 persons to be reassigned in the coming days and weeks. However, there is a limit to the number of people that we can reassign internally, because other areas of the Department are equally busy, for example, on labour force activation issues and in the employment rights bodies. Therefore, we are also in discussions with the Department of Finance to establish the extent of the scope for the assignment of additional staff, possibly from other Departments, as occurred in the case of the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

One of the problems is that people — quite rightly — are concerned about their redundancy claims and are telephoning frequently to check on progress. While this is understandable, it is adding to the delays as it means that staff are tied up on phones and not processing the claims. Therefore, we are making arrangements such that the dedicated call centre of the National Employment Rights Authority will be able to give out better and more up-to-date information to callers about the status of their applications.

I assure the Deputy that this matter is under constant review in my Department and that every effort is being made to deal with an increasing backlog in an attempt to ensure that claimants get the best possible service at, what is for them, a very difficult time.

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