Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Department received 4,339 claims for domiciliary care allowance in 2012, with 4,680 claims processed. There are no claim backlogs in domiciliary care allowance where claims were processed within six weeks, on average, with 34% awarded the allowance.

A total of 11,510 claims were received in 2012 for invalidity pension, with 17,775 decided. Invalidity pension claims were processed within 16 weeks, with 36% awarded. However, new invalidity pension claims are now being processed promptly upon receipt and all backlogged claims have been actioned and are either decided or awaiting further information necessary to make a decision.

The Department received 25,887 claims for disability allowance in 2012. A total of 26,159 claims were processed, with 40% awarded. Disability allowance claims were processed, on average, within 17 weeks.

The time required to process a new application under these schemes can vary depending on the complexity of the individual circumstances and whether full information is provided by the person claiming at the outset. In addition, a request for a review or an appeal by a person whose claim is disallowed will add to the length of time taken to deal with the claim.

As part of the Department's major ongoing service delivery modernisation programme, new service delivery schemes have been rolled out in the long-term illness schemes, that is, the invalidity pension, the carer's allowance and the disability allowance, during 2011 and 2012. Following the deployment of the new system, an in-depth business process improvement project was initiated in each of the schemes aimed at maximising capacity to deal with weekly intake of applications, eliminating backlogs and ensuring optimum efficiency.

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