Dáil debates
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Illness Benefit Payments
2:50 pm
Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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There are serious issues with the new illness benefit system. I cannot be the only Member contacted weekly about illness benefit claims or payments as it has been going on for several months. The issue first came to the fore in my office last August with dozens of complaints from ill and vulnerable people genuinely upset by the disruption to their payments with no money suddenly coming into their accounts. It was a case of a little bit here and none there, all with no warning from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Last month, we learned of a 14-fold increase in complaints relating to illness benefit in 2018, accounting for 40% of all complaints made to the Department. This is hardly surprising when people were left for weeks with no payment and referred to the community welfare service. Sick people or people in recovery were left without an income. The illness benefit section in the Department did not answer phones or reply to messages. Staff in my office were unable to contact the Department and there are still issues with this. On 7 January, I received email responses from the illness benefit section to representations made in mid-October, four months later. These are issues involving sick and vulnerable people who are only looking for their own money back.
A lady contacted my office who had to take bed rest due to severe pregnancy complications and was receiving illness benefit. She had €66 for two weeks and then nothing for the following two weeks. With no medical card, she had no money for vital medication for her unborn baby. She also missed a mortgage payment.
Another person undergoing chemotherapy with radiation to follow did not get any payment for three weeks. The Department sent the individual letters stating their claim had been selected for review. This was their fourth review in a matter of months and the individual in question had returned documentation multiple times. This is obviously a distressing situation. The person involved, a cancer sufferer, told me that it was as if the Department did not believe they were sick.
I want to raise one particular case today, one of the worst I have ever seen. I must be thorough about it and I plead the Minister of State’s patience because the people involved have none left. It involves an illness claim which started last September and is still an absolute mess, to say the least. I have more than a dozen letters received by the applicant from 7 November 2018 to 9 January 2019 but not one of them is correct. I also have a record of eight hours of telephone calls made by the applicant’s spouse to the Department over the two-month period. Contact was also made through my office. The local community welfare office was involved and I thank those officials for their help.
The claim started on 19 September 2018. On 7 November, a letter issued to the applicant awarding them illness benefit from 19 September for €361.20. My office phoned the Department straight away because this was incorrect as the payment did not include provision for a second dependent child. A letter on 14 November sought further information in this regard which was forwarded. On 15 November, the claimant received their first payment to their bank account of €739.20. On the same day, they received a letter from the Department awarding them a rate of €393. On 27 November, they got a payment of €485. On 5 December, they received two letters, one awarding them a rate of payment of €361.20 and the other of €345.30. Two days later, on 7 December, another letter was received, this time awarding them a rate of €198.00. This rate was reiterated in another letter the following week on 12 December. On 17 December, a payment of €870.85 was issued . On 20 December, there was a payment of €690.60. On 4 January, there was no payment.
On 7 January, two letters were received from the illness benefit section, both missing what can only be the first page of correspondence. All that was in these envelopes was a back page with the standard clause of “if you are not satisfied with this decision, etc, etc, please reply within 21 days”. On 9 January, this person’s payment was €35.65. On that same day, 9 January, they received a letter awarding them €361.20. The next day, on 10 January, two payments to their bank account were made of €2.65 and €392.15. On 17 January, a payment was made of €229.80. On 24 January, a payment was made of €191.50. On 4 February, a payment was made of €427.10.
On 7 February, there was a payment of €195.33 which should have been €229.80.
2:55 pm
Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will get another two minutes.
Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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On contacting the illness benefit section, my office was informed that 15% of the payment had been taken back through debt recovery. That was the first the family knew about it. They received no notice or letter whatsoever.
Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will get another two minutes.
Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I commend his work in highlighting issues with claiming illness benefit. I appreciate his genuine concern.
The Department informs me that people who are due payments and whose certificates and claims are in order are receiving their entitlements promptly. Departmental staff are processing over 9,000 transactions per day, which is an indication of the volume of work in that section. It is important to note, however, that there are always individual cases, as the Deputy has highlighted, whereby people’s payments are legitimately stopped, paused or delayed for a variety of reasons, including the late submission of medical certificates.
As the Deputy will know, in recent months issues arose with the scheme when my Department transferred administration of the illness benefit scheme from an old legacy payments IT system which is approaching end of life to its core BusinessObjects IT platform in August. Since then, the Department has worked hard to resolve these issues and to ensure that claims are processed and paid promptly. We have made good progress in this regard, with payment levels maintained at the expected norm over recent months. Telephone helpline and call-handling performance have also been addressed and is now back to normal levels, although customers may still sometimes, experience delays due to call volumes. I agree that it is not acceptable that families have to make phone calls lasting more than eight hours. I can also confirm that discussions with GP representatives with respect to a move from paper to e-certification have concluded successfully. As a result, we expect e-certification to be introduced this year. This will significantly improve service to clients and GPs. The Department has had a long and positive partnership with GPs over many years and is committed to maintaining good working relationships with our GP partners.
Customers who experience an urgent financial need as a result of possible delays in respect of their illness benefit payments can apply to the Department’s community welfare services in order to obtain interim payments. They should contact their local Intreo centres in that regard. The illness benefit section can be contacted by phone on 01 7043300 or 1890 928 400, or by email to illnessbenefit@welfare.ie.
I understand the Deputy's concerns over this particular case. I will follow up further on the individual case. Eight hours of phone calls is not acceptable and we need to do something about it. However, the section is handling 9,000 transactions per day and at times it is very busy.
Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. This is a very difficult case. Even though the person was overpaid and our office notified the Department that the person was getting the incorrect payment, nothing was done. The person then received a number of payments, very few of which were correct. The person then received a payment with a 15% deduction because the Department claims that €800 was overpaid.
I accept that this money has to be repaid, but the Department should at least contact the people regarding the overpayments and the fact that it needs to deduct the money. What has happened is very unfair. The least the Department could do is contact those involved. We are talking about vulnerable people who are sick. They would work if they were able to do so but, unfortunately, they cannot. They are getting back their own money. It is wrong to treat people like that. They are the most vulnerable individuals who would normally work but who cannot do so as a result of health problems.
This is not the only case and many other families are finding it very difficult. I do not want to blame staff or anything of that nature. The system is not working. Somebody needs to take control of it in order to ensure that these vulnerable people are paid the money to which they are entitled because of their sickness.
Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I accept the Deputy's point on the vulnerable people and we need to resolve and address that. A number of difficulties arose with the changeover to a new system. These included people not receiving payments or receiving split or irregular payments. A large number of queries led to long delays in call answering. Up to 20% of those in receipt of illness benefit were impacted upon. However, we are gradually getting back to normal payments.
The Deputy is right that we need to ensure we fix the problems. We have taken three steps: additional staff to process the claims and answer customer queries; we have developed some IT routines that can further automate the process to ensure a faster flow through to payment; and review the design rules in the system to afford greater flexibility in processing the claims and certificates. In addition, the Department continues to engage with local professionals regarding the implementation of the new process.
If problems are fixed, why are some people not being paid, being paid more or less than expected, or still due arrears? There has been an increase in claims for illness benefit in January. This trend reflects the annual increase at this time of year due to seasonal illnesses. There are delayed payments, extra payments and payments less than expected. On delayed payments, overall payment levels in respect of illness benefit are now normal. On the extra payments, delays in processing have meant that some customer claims which should be closed were open longer than should have been. As a result of the fact that we have not received final medical certificates, they have to receive an extra payment. This is also the case under the legacy system. In addition, the process of certification in 2018 which ensured that people got paid and also paid people who had not submitted a final certificate resulted in some extra payments to users. I take the Deputy's point and will bring his concerns back to the Minister.