Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

First, I thank Deputy Tom Sheahan for raising the question on the Adjournment. I assure him that, within the law and the terms of the scheme, every effort is being made to deal with all applications under the various schemes as expeditiously as possible. As he is probably aware, there was a significant increase in the number of applications under the various schemes in recent years.

There are currently 6,477 disability allowance claims awaiting decision and this represents 6.4% of the total number currently in receipt of disability allowance, DA. The numbers in receipt of disability allowance have increased year on year. At the end of September 2010, there were 101,042 in receipt of the allowance, representing an increase of 4,970 or 5% over the number of recipients in January 2009. The average number of weeks taken to decide a disability allowance claim in September 2010 was 10.69 weeks, and 59% of all claims were decided within 12 weeks.

To be eligible for disability allowance, a claimant must satisfy a medical assessment, a means test and be habitually resident in the State. All aspects of the claim must be decided before the customer is notified of the decision.

The processing time for individual disability allowance claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main criteria to which I referred. Certain claims have to be referred to social welfare inspectors for means investigation and this can add to the overall processing times. One third of the claims awaiting decision are currently with inspectors. In addition, factors outside the Department's control can have an impact, for example, incomplete application forms, the supply of relevant information by the customer, that is, bank account details, details of spouses earnings, information from employers or third parties.

Anyone who is under financial pressure while awaiting a decision on his or her claim can apply for supplementary welfare allowance from his or her local community welfare officer.

My Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. Operational processes and procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed in all areas of the Department, including disability allowance section, to ensure that claims are processed and decided in the most efficient and expeditious way possible, having regard to the eligibility conditions that apply to each scheme.

Measures introduced by the Department to address the efficiency of DA claim processing include the review of existing processes and procedures with the objective of reducing delays in claim processing, the review of ongoing staffing deployment and the judicious application of overtime working.

An increasing number of claims are now desk assessed for means purposes, thus reducing the numbers being sent to social welfare inspectors and improving the overall times for claim processing. With regard to medical assessment, all claims are now being desk assessed by the medical assessors of the Department, thus obviating the need to call the vast majority of claimants for medical examinations.

This is where certification from the medical practitioners who fill up the application forms is so vital. In an effort to speed up the operation, and rather than call everybody for medical examination as there are many black and white cases of eligibility for disability allowance, we are trying to have better certification from the doctors coming in so that the doctor assessing does not need to see the patient because he or she already has the information from the original medical examination, in other words, that we take it that the examination carried out by the applicant's doctor is thorough and gives us the information. I am sure the Deputy will agree that this approach makes sense. Of course, it leads to a situation where some applicants will not be happy with the decision. In such a case, obviously, the person can look for a revised decision and then we can carry out a physical examination.

I have been encouraging the Department to look at, as a first process, having better documentation coming in because we can only make decisions on documentation coming in. If we get good documentation and if it answers the questions clearly - remember in many cases it is disability to work is the issue - then we can make quicker decisions and need not have to physically have a medical officer check everybody. Obviously, however, if that does not resolve the issue, then one must fall back on the physical examination, and, of course, the right of appeal also exists.

One argument I have with some commentators is that they are always on about policy. I agree with the Deputy, that for the ordinary punter in the street it does not matter how good the policy is if the actual delivery of the service does not match it. I could have the best policies as Minister for Social Protection but unless the person can get the payment to which he or she feels entitled, or get a fair process to show he or she is not entitled to the payment after the appeals process, all of the policy is a waste of time.

We are trying systematically, in view of the increased number of applicants to get a speedier decision making process in the first round, have a review within the Department, and then one goes to appeal. Even at appeal stage, if new information is provided we go back to the deciding officer and ask him or her to review it again before we go through the appeals mechanism. In that way, we would hope in a range of processes that we can reduce processing time and give a much more satisfactory service.

I must state on behalf of the appeals office, in justification, that the number of appeals grew significantly with the number of applications, but that is cold comfort to the public. Therefore, they are working with me proactively to try see how we reduce the waiting times for decisions, both at the first application and on appeal.

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