Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. I am pleased to report that claim processing is up to date with processing targets met, or exceeded, on average for all the main scheme areas. As an example, over the past two years substantial improvements in processing performance was achieved across most schemes but especially in the carers and disability areas, where claims are now consistently processed within four to five weeks, compared with 14 weeks in 2019. I am particularly pleased that the positive processing times have been maintained through the period of the pandemic.

My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all customers and ensuring that claims are processed as quickly as possible. Any backlogs arising are addressed without delay through a range of measures, including system changes and the allocation of additional resources where needed.

While there have been high volumes of Covid enhanced illness benefit applications over the past month as a result of the transmission of the Omicron variant, 92% of these applications are being processed within a week. Applications that require a manual intervention are taking approximately two weeks to process but my officials are working hard to minimise any delays. There are no backlogs arsing in respect of standard illness benefit applications. Delays can arise where a person submits an application without all of the necessary supporting documentation. It is important that anyone applying for social welfare payments should provide as much information as possible when sending in a claim as this will enable a decision to be made much more quickly.

Overall, I am very proud that my Department continues to ensure that the customer experience has not been diminished by the effects of Covid-19, and that the customer service has been maintained at a high level.

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