David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this important matter and for his continued interest in the area. Since late September 2018, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners who were born on or after 1 September 1946 and who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement based on the post-budget 2012 rate bands. These payments are being reviewed under a new total contributions approach to pension calculation, which includes provision for home-caring periods. The reviews commenced on 13 February 2019, the day after the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, signed the regulations required, together with provisions in the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registrations Act 2018, to permit the increased payments to be made. As of 28 March 2019, 11,646 reviews have been completed. Of these, over 8,850 have resulted in an increased payment for the pensioners concerned. Pensioners who did not qualify for an increase in payments will continue to receive their existing weekly rate. As such, nobody will lose out as a result of this review.

The Minister has stated from the outset that it will take a number of months to complete all the reviews due to the numbers involved and the individual nature of social insurance records. In some cases, it is necessary to engage in correspondence with a pensioner in order to clarify contribution histories and periods of caring and work. To date, over 34,000 requests for information have issued to pensioners. In order to process these reviews, 121 temporary staff members have been recruited to the Department's offices in the north west. Regardless of when a review is conducted, the person's rate of payment will be adjusted without delay where an increase in payment is due and arrears will be issued, backdated to 30 March 2018 or the pensioner's 66th birthday, if later. Where a person's rate does not increase following a review, the person will continue to receive their existing rate of payment. Given the scale of the work, which involves 90,000 pensioners, the fact that each case requires close individual examination and that some cases are more complex than others, it is not be reasonable to expect all reviews to be processed immediately. While this work will take a number of months to complete, it will continue until all pensioners have been notified of the outcomes of their reviews in writing. The Minister urges anyone who has yet to provide additional requested information to the Department to do so as soon as possible so that his or her review can be processed.