Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on the delays in making disability allowance payments to 1,700 persons who made successful appeals to the social welfare appeals office; and if she will recruit more staff in order that decisions of the appeals office can be implemented immediately in the future. [50874/13]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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What steps will the Minister take to address the increase in the delay between social welfare appeals being successful and appellants subsequently receiving payment from the Department? This delay is now over three months in the case of disabled applicants.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department aims to process and pay without delay all successful appeals returned by the social welfare appeals office. There are currently no delays in implementing successful appeal decisions across schemes. The Deputy has been kind enough to acknowledge that we have completely overhauled our IT and processing systems in respect of domiciliary care allowance, carer's allowance and family income supplement. The only area in which delays remain is that which relates to disability allowance. Obviously, we inherited vast delays from the previous Administration. In the case of disability allowance, temporary delays are currently being experienced by some successful appellants. We are working on the substantial backlog which has built up in this area. This is part of the ongoing service delivery modernisation programme the Department is in the process of implementing Said programme has also included the putting in place of a new computer system and more efficient processes to improve the Department's service to customers who are on disability allowance. The disability allowance section is well on its way to eliminating the backlog of new applications. This is the way we dealt with the problems in each of the other areas. The successful clearing of a high number of claims in backlog has resulted in an equally high level of appeals which are been serviced as quickly as possible. I do not know if that makes sense to the Deputy but the processing of claims and efforts to clear the backlog have led to an increase in the number of appeals. If people wish to appeal, they are being accommodated much more quickly. This means that a proportion of cases are returned to the system more rapidly than was previously the case.

Of the 1,700 successful appeal cases I reported to the Deputy in my reply to his question of 19 November, some 500 have been processed and there are now 1,200 disability allowance cases awaiting clearance. The Department is committed to clearing these in the coming weeks. I hope that the vast bulk of them will be dealt with before Christmas. Additional staff resources have already been assigned to this work.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

As most of these customers are already in payment on other schemes, arrears due will issue once overlaps with these other scheme payments are taken into account. Any person whose means are insufficient to meet their needs while awaiting a decision on a social welfare payment may apply for means-tested supplementary welfare allowance.

I again assure the Deputy that customer service is a key priority for me and my Department. I am happy to report that major customer service improvements have been made during the past year in the processing of claims and appeals on all the illness related schemes.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the news that the vast majority of the 1,200 disability allowance appeals awaiting clearance will be dealt with prior to Christmas. We all acknowledge the progress that has been made in respect of social welfare appeals, particularly in the context of the reduction in waiting times. However, this has made no difference to those on disability allowance whose appeals have been successful because they were still obliged to wait for payment to be restored. In some instances, the delay has been up to three months and this has added to the level of stress on the people involved. I am aware of two cases in which the delay has been over three months. The gap between an appeal being successful and the recommencement of payment never really existed before and it needs to be addressed. I welcome the Minister's commitment to the effect that most of the outstanding appeals will be cleared by Christmas. This will relieve some of the stress on the applicants involved, some of whom have major disabilities. I am of the view that their claims should not have been refused in the first instance.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Another point which must be taken into account is that as most of the 1,200 customers whose appeals are awaiting clearance are already in payment on other schemes, the arrears due will issue once overlaps with these other scheme payments are taken into account. We were obliged to update technology which was very behind the times. I pay tribute to the staff of our Longford office and those across the Department who deal with illness-related and family income supplement schemes because they have worked fantastically well in the context of clearing backlogs and putting the new technology to which I refer in place. When the Department puts in place new technology, it must ensure that the two systems run side by side. Inevitably, therefore, delays occur when we are putting in place new platforms. This is because we must try to ensure that we get everything absolutely right before new systems go live. I thank the Deputy for his comments, which I will pass on to the staff.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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In view of her answer, I presume the Minister is confident that the new computer system will allow for future changes. In other words, once an appeal is successful, payment will be made within days or, at most, a week or thereabouts. I accept that it may take longer to calculate arrears. Will the Minister provide a commitment in this regard?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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That is the broad objective. I do not want to give an actual commitment at this point because at some stage there could be a flood of additional applications. Given that unemployment is falling and people are returning to work, the chances of such a flood occurring are less than they were previously when huge numbers of people understandably turned to the Department of Social Protection as a result of the collapse in the economy, the disaster which befell the construction sector etc. As we move back into a period of slow recovery in the level of employment, the pressure on the social welfare system will ease to some degree. The new computer and processing systems are working well and, given that we have cleared all the backlogs relating to domiciliary care allowance, carer's allowance and family income supplement, I am confident people will enjoy a significantly higher quality of service. Providing such an improved service would be my objective.