Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 5: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason for the delay in applicants receiving disability arrears from his Department; if it is due to a shortage of staff in processing claims; if many financially vulnerable clients must wait up to three months for their entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23813/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. Every effort is made to ensure that customers receive all their entitlements as soon as possible following application.

Entitlement to disability allowance is contingent on the applicant satisfying both medical and means conditions. To satisfy the medical condition customers submit a medical certificate from their general practitioner. A medical assessor of my Department examines the medical evidence submitted and, if necessary, asks the person to attend for a medical examination to establish if the medical conditions for the scheme are met. The weekly rate of disability allowance depends on the amount of weekly means the person has. Means are assessed on the basis of income which the person or the person's spouse may reasonably expect to receive in the year following the date of the claim. An officer of my Department gathers all the necessary evidence, including documentation, to make an assessment of a person's means. In certain circumstances a home visit may be necessary before the assessment can be completed.

Inevitably, a period of weeks elapses while these investigations take place. This results in arrears accruing to the person. However, once a decision is made on the person's entitlement, the weekly rate is put into payment to ensure that the person receives ongoing payments as soon as they are due. Arrears accruing for the period from date of entitlement to date of first payment are then computed and issued as soon as is practicable. Many claimants are in receipt of supplementary welfare allowance or other primary social welfare payments during this period. The amount of such overlapping payments must be established and deducted when computing the net arrears due. Having regard to the time it takes to decide on applications for disability allowance in the first instance and subsequently to calculate and issue the appropriate amounts of arrears due, it is inevitable that a number of weeks will elapse before these matters are finalised in any case.

One of my Department's priorities is to minimise the time lags involved in processing new claims and any associated arrears due. Targets are set for claim processing, including calculation and payment of arrears, but pressures can arise at certain times due to claim volumes, as a result of which these targets are sometimes not met. My Department makes every effort to ensure, however, that payments are made as quickly and expeditiously as possible.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

There has been a significant increase in the number of disability allowance applications received by my Department in the first six months of 2005. A total of 10,500 applications have been received, compared with 8,700 in the first six months of 2004. In this context, priority has, in the first instance, been given to processing entitlements to the allowance. Consequently some delays have been recently experienced in the processing of arrears of disability allowance. Staff resources, which have become available as a result of the successful completion of another project in the disability allowance area, are being dedicated to the processing of arrears to reduce the number of cases awaiting decision. The situation will continue to be closely monitored to ensure that service improvements are effected.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I will be interested in seeing the additional information. We are talking about vulnerable people in bad health. The Minister has spoken of delays in terms of weeks. I have heard of one particular case where a person was waiting for up to three months. I have been told there is a problem within the Department and that people were on long-term sick leave. How long are people actually waiting? What is the longest waiting period? Is the embargo on public servants the cause of the problem? There may not be enough people in the Department processing the forms.

How many staff are working in this area? Is it a matter of training people if others are out for the long term? Have people been waiting for six months? The Minister mentioned that some can go to the community welfare officer. Many people will not go to the community welfare officer, due to pride or whatever. I know of one case which was successful in obtaining arrears with the help of the Department. However, there are many people who do not want to go down that road and they borrow from families and others. In light of the difficulties that seem to be emerging in this section, will the Minister carry out some kind of organisational review? These are some the most vulnerable people in society, they are ill and in need of this money.

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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In the first six months of 2005, 10,500 applications were received. That compares with a total of 8,700 in the same period last year so that is quite an increase. Currently, there are 3,422 cases awaiting calculation of arrears and 2,800 of these are for people who have been awarded the allowance. A total of 572 cases are for persons who have been given revised rates of payment. Out of the 3,422 cases in arrears, 925 are awaiting determination for longer than three months. I am examining resources as a result of this information.