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

The community welfare service, CWS, is committed to providing a quality service to all citizens, ensuring applications are processed and decisions on entitlement are made quickly. There are no backlogs at present and work on hand is within the scheme's normal processing levels. Complete applications are finalised within two weeks and there is less than two weeks' work in process.

Exceptional needs payment applications are varied and often complex, reflecting individual circumstances. It is important to note that, where it is clear a person has an urgent or immediate need, every effort is made to ensure the claim is processed on the same day. CWOs are very experienced and can generally assess when a case is so urgent that it requires an immediate response. Approximately 10% of CWS payments to customers are made on this basis, which shows how responsive the service is to urgent customer need.

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