Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, payment issues arose under the illness benefit schemes last year when my Department transferred administration of the scheme from an old legacy IT payments system to the new core business IT platform which is managing many of its other scheme payments.  At the time I expressed my apologies to all of those who were affected, of whom there were far too many. I am very happy to do so again today.  It should not have happened and we can do better. My Department has since been working hard to resolve the issues and ensure claims are processed and paid promptly.  We have made good progress in that regard, with payment levels in the past few months being maintained at the expected norms for the time of the year. The telephone helpline and call handling performance system has also been addressed because it endured major stress because of the numbers calling us. It is now back to normal levels, although customers may still experience some delays owing to call volumes at particular times, perhaps during the flu season and so on.

There was an increase in the number of claims for illness benefit in January, but it reflected the typical annual increase at the time of year owing to seasonal illnesses.

Currently, people who are due a payment and whose certificates and claims are in order receive their payment promptly. It is important to note, as I have a number of times before, that there have been and will always be cases in which people's payments are legitimately stopped, paused or delayed for a variety of reasons, including the late submission of medical certificates. In addition and as was always the case, human errors can be made from time to time by departmental staff or applicants and it is up to us to ensure we rectify those in as timely a manner as possible. This is to be expected in a scheme that processes between 9,000 and 10,000 certificates a day. I am satisfied, given that we are processing 50,000 certificates into payment every week in line with the normal level established over many years, that such issues are normal processing issues.  While I would obviously prefer that every application was administered correctly in the first instance, we are only human and 100% perfection is not always attainable. However, my Department is learning from the recent challenges and is constantly looking to improve its services.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

As ever, people who experience an urgent financial need while awaiting an illness benefit payment can apply to my Department's community welfare service to receive an interim payment and should contact the relevant local Intreo centre in that regard.

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