Results 17,281-17,300 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Applications (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The one parent family application of the person concerned is being processed, and she will be informed of the outcome once this process is completed. The person concerned submitted a written request to have her previous one parent family claim closed, and the Department have no plans to carry out a review of the decision to close that claim.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer having fully considered all the available evidence allowed the appeal of the person concerned by way of summary decision. The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer decision on 19th September 2012. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Payments (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 209 and 210 together. The information requested by the Deputy is not routinely collated by my Department. However, I am informed that on the 31st of December 2011, there were 597,333 families in receipt of child benefit. There 263,515 families in receipt of qualified child increases across the various social welfare schemes administered by the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department is in receipt of an application for carer's allowance from the person in question. In June of this year the person concerned submitted additional medical evidence in support of the application. This medical evidence is awaiting further assessment by a medical assessor. Once the medical assessment has been completed the application a deciding officer will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The change in relation to State pension (contributory), introduced in legislation from 1st September 2012, sets out a wider graduation of yearly average bands and corresponding pension rates. The aim of this change is to ensure that the rate of pension payment is more closely related to the level of social insurance contributions a person has paid (including credited contributions, where...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: An application for a redundancy lump sum payment in respect of the person concerned has recently been authorised and payment will issue shortly directly to the person’s bank account.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 8th June 2012. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for DCA. A letter issued on the 25th July 2012 refusing the allowance. The person concerned subsequently lodged an appeal against this decision....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 215, 216 and 220 together. Processing times vary across schemes because of both the volume of applications and the differing qualification criteria. For example, means assessments are required for all of the social assistance schemes and customers must also satisfy the habitual residence condition. In the case of the insurance based schemes, it may be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 217 and 223 together. There are currently approximately 90,000 persons in receipt of rent supplement and 17,000 in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, for which the Government has provided a total of €487 million in 2012. A key objective of the transfer of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive to my Department on 1st...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Applications (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: Applications for Child Benefit may be dealt with either under domestic legislation or EU legislation.Claims made under domestic legislation are processed on average within three weeks of receipt. Currently, a total of 1,533 claims are pending under domestic legislation, of which 458 are awaiting further information from customers. Claims made under EU legislation are processed within six...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Applications (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average waiting time for new family income supplement (FIS) claims at the end of August was 18 weeks and for renewal applications was 16 weeks. At the end of August, there were 7,113...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The current waiting time for an application for illness benefit is less than one week. As of 14th September 2012 a total of 1,921 applicants were awaiting a decision on their illness benefit application.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Applications (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: At the end of August 2012 there were 5802 Invalidity Pension (IP) claims registered and awaiting decision. Average time to award is currently 33 weeks, this includes the time taken to decide EU and bilateral cases which have a significantly longer processing time. Since the introduction of the two year expiration of illness benefit there has been a significant increase in the number of IP...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: There are approximately 8,500 redundancy payment applications on hand awaiting processing at present. These include both rebate and lump sums claims. Where lump sum claims have been correctly submitted on-line, the processing target of 6 to 8 weeks is currently being achieved. There are some cases, for example, where a query arose and the Department is awaiting additional information from...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Numbers (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The National Internship Scheme provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals in organisations in the private, public and community voluntary sectors and at present is confined to individuals who are in receipt of a Live claim (Jobseekers Allowance/Jobseekers Benefit/One Parent Family Payment/Disability Allowance) or are signing on for credits for at...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 23 November 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 17th July...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: Rent allowance to the person concerned was overpaid due to non-disclosure of information pertinent to the calculation of her entitlement. My Department has recently written to the person concerned and explained the reasoning behind the overpayment. The person concerned is currently is in receipt of her full entitlement to rent supplement based on her household circumstances. If these...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: Rent Supplement which was being paid to the person concerned was subject to rent limit review. This review has now been completed and Rent Supplement has been reinstated.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The carer’s allowance for the person in question was routinely reviewed in May 2012. Following assessment of the medical evidence provided by the person in support of their continuing eligibility, a deciding officer decided that the care recipient was not so disabled as to require full time care and attention as prescribed in regulations. The person concerned was notified of this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Eligibility (25 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: Invalidity pension is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the contribution conditions. One of the contribution conditions for invalidity pension is that the claimant must have 48 contributions paid or credited in the last complete contribution year before the date of claim. Class A, E or H contributions only are...