Mary Moran (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, for coming here to answer my Adjournment matter. Can he explain the long delay in dealing with appeals for the disability allowance? I made inquiries and have been told that over 300 people have had to wait over a year for a decision on their appeal. Also, 4,169 appeals were heard last year but 2,513 of those people had waited over four months. That is an unnecessarily long wait. Why the delay? Why were so many applications disallowed on initial submission yet the Department claims over 50% are granted on appeal? Is there a discrepancy in the initial application? What is the cause of the confusion? Has anyone investigated why so many first round applications are refused? I would be grateful to hear answers.

I rang the Department the other day and was told that the appeals submitted last November are only now being processed. That is an extraordinarily long wait and I look forward to hearing the answer.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I shall respond to this Adjournment on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton. She welcomes the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the steps that are being taken to improve the processing of disability allowance applications and the significant improvements made over the past 12 months in the processing of applications for other departmental schemes such as family income supplement, invalidity pension and carer's allowance.

The processing time for individual social welfare claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the relevant qualifying criteria, people's circumstances and the information they provide in support of their claim. In addition, a request for a review or an appeal by a person adds to the length of time taken to deal with the claim.

A major service delivery modernisation project was undertaken to improve the efficiency of administration of a number of social welfare schemes, including disability allowance, and to help deal with substantial backlogs in Longford schemes. This involved the deployment of information technology solutions and associated business process improvement.

The current average time to decide a new disability allowance application is seven weeks. Following completion of the IT phase of the modernisation project in the area, the disability allowance section commenced its business process improvement project in December 2012, at which stage there were 7,800 claims awaiting decision. The backlog elimination plan was implemented at the end of April 2013. All of the backlogged new claims awaiting a decision prior to 29 April 2013 were ring-fenced and additional staff, operating a new streamlined process, were assigned to decide these claims. The backlog of unactioned claims is presently reduced to just over 2,900 and the target is to have all these actioned within the next few weeks. New disability allowance applications received from 1 May 2013 onwards are actioned without undue delay.

Previously, following the roll-out of the IT phase of service delivery modernisation projects, similar business process improvement projects were completed in invalidity pensions, carer's allowance and also in family income supplement. The Minister is delighted to say that these projects have resulted in the elimination of backlogs of new claims in invalidity pensions and carer's allowance. They have also eliminated backlogs of both new and renewal claims in family income supplement. For instance, the current average time taken to decide a new invalidity pension claim is six weeks; carer's allowance is now eight weeks; family income supplement is less than two weeks for new claims and in advance for renewals so that a customer with an ongoing entitlement to family income supplement is not left without payment.

As a consequence of the very high number of decisions made in the past year in all the relevant schemes, and as backlogs were being eliminated, there has been a corresponding substantial increase in the number of appeals being received. Invalidity pensions, carer's allowance and family income supplement sections are now focused on reducing the appeals on hand. The prompt processing of claims is the priority for all scheme managers. Each scheme area is continuously monitoring its processes, procedures and the organisation of work to ensure that processing capability is maximised.

In conclusion, the Minister wishes to assure Senators that service delivery remains a key priority in her Department and that processes are kept under continuous review to ensure that services are delivered promptly to customers.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Senator Moran can ask a brief question.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his comments. I noted that the present waiting time for disability allowance is seven weeks but I asked about appeals. The other day a member of the Department informed me, on the telephone, that staff are now examining the backlog of appeals that date back to November. However, I have taken the positive message from the Minister's statement that applications have been cleared so appeals will be examined soon. I hope so but shall wait and see.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I compliment the Minister on the transformation business model in the Department.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I agree.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Minister has clearly stated that the residual claims have been reduced to over 2,000 and are being processed, and will be processed, within the next number of weeks. That is a great transformation when one considers the level of claims that are being processed. Procedures have also been put in place to deal with the backlog. She has also clearly stated that ongoing claims will be dealt with speedily and efficiently. I compliment the staff who have put a great amount of time and effort into the transformation process. They have done a massive amount of work and should be complimented.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I agree with the Minister of State. I welcome the improvements and hope it continues.