Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle, to the House. I acknowledge this is not his area of expertise but I appreciate that he is here to consider my worthy request.

Many people applying for the carer's allowance are coming to my office. A lady whose ten-year old daughter is very ill told me it took 17 weeks for her application to be assessed. The husband of a woman with pancreatic cancer who applied for a carer's allowance was told it would take up to 17 weeks just to process his application. A man caring for his wife, who cannot go out on her own, was not awarded the carer's benefit for one year. It seems to be taking an awfully long time. Many of those affected are very ill. They are so dependent on their loved ones for care. The carers are saving the State money because the people being cared for are in their own homes and being looked after by their loved ones. Sometimes, however, there is no income in the household while an application is being considered. Is it possible to address this? Is there a shortage of staff? What is the problem? What is occurring is another hurdle to be overcome by people who are at a certain stage of their lives and who are very ill.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am very happy to be able to address the Senator's concern. The issue arises regularly in our constituency offices.

I assure the Senator that the prompt processing of applications remains a priority for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Each scheme area is continually monitored and reviewed to ensure customers are responded to as quickly as possible, and their applications are processed as expeditiously as possible.

Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of illness-related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested payments can also require more detailed investigation and interaction with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision-making process. Delays can also arise where information is required from social security organisations in other jurisdictions and where additional information has been requested from the applicant but remains outstanding. This means that processing times vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. For example, in December 2017, it took on average one week to award a jobseeker's benefit payment, which is based on social insurance contributions, but two weeks to award a jobseeker's allowance payment, which is means-tested. In the same month, it took on average ten weeks to award an application for carer's benefit, which is based on a medical assessment as to care requirements, an assessment of the level of care being provided and social insurance contributions, whereas it took an average 17 weeks to award an application for carer's allowance, which has similar medical and care provision conditionality but which is means-tested.

As part of the Department's programme of service delivery modernisation, a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented in recent years. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed to ensure processing capability is maximised. For example, staff have been reassigned within the carer's allowance area to work on claims processing, and it is expected that this will improve the processing times for this scheme over the coming weeks.

The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continually reviewed, taking account of workloads, management priorities and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department.

As with all Departments and agencies, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is required to operate within a staff ceiling figure and a commensurate administrative staffing budget, which for this Department has involved reductions in staff numbers. Reducing waiting times is a key priority. With this in mind, the Department will continue to prioritise efficient turnaround times of applications and for the filling of critical posts.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. It is good that the Department has acknowledged there are problems in certain areas. I note that it is putting additional staff into certain areas to alleviate those problems. We will have to monitor this. We will note in our own offices the expediency with which the applications are being processed. I appreciate that the Department is aware of the matter and that it is trying to do something about it.