Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 581: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be approved and awarded the widower's non-contributory pension. [20091/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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In October 2006, the customer concerned applied for a widower's contributory pension. Following an examination of his insurance record, his application was disallowed as he did not have enough paid contributions. In January 2007 his application was referred for examination of his entitlement to widower's non contributory pension. However, the customer withdrew his claim as he did not wish to proceed with a claim for non contributory pension.

The customer re-applied for a widower's non contributory pension in June 2007. Following investigation by a Social Welfare Inspector his means, derived from self employment as a taxi driver, were assessed at €155.00 weekly. He was awarded the widower's non contributory pension at the reduced rate of €18.50 per week from the 6th October 2006, increasing to €38.30 weekly from 5 January 2007. In addition he was awarded Fuel Allowance of €18.00 weekly. The customer was notified of this decision on 30 July 2007.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 582: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be approved and awarded family income supplement. [20092/07]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 583: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason it has taken 24 weeks for the file of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo to be sent to a local social welfare inspector. [20093/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 582 and 583 together.

The person concerned was awarded Family Income Supplement (FIS) for a period of 12 months from 25th May 2006 and payment continued to 23rd May 2007. He made a renewal claim on 17th April 2007. Due to high volumes of claims in the FIS section, there have been delays in processing claims with the result that this claim was not examined until the 8th August. When the case was examined, it was found that the spouse of the person concerned had income from self-employment and it was necessary to refer the case to a Social Welfare Inspector for investigation of this aspect before a decision could be made.

On completion of the investigation and a decision was made on 5th September 2007 by a Deciding Officer of my Department. The person concerned was awarded FIS at the weekly rate of €291 from 24 May 2007. The first payment, including arrears of €4,656 from 24/5/07 was made on 12 September 2007. The delay in finalising this claim is regretted.

My Department has introduced measures to directly address the timeliness of claim processing for FIS:

A review of existing processes and procedures has been carried out with he explicit objective of reducing delays in claim processing;

Priority is being given to claims where a claim is being renewed to ensure continuity of payment;

Additional resources have been applied specifically to improve delivery of service and the ongoing staffing requirement has been reviewed.

These measures will, over time, lead to more efficient processing and reduce the number of claims on hand. The position is being closely monitored by my Department.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 584: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of family income supplement applications received in his Department; the average processing time per file; and his plans to increase staffing levels to reduce the delay in processing files. [20094/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is designed to provide cash support for employees on low earnings with families. FIS is paid for 52 weeks provided a person continues to meet the qualifying conditions and a claim for renewal may then be made. There are currently 20,247 people in receipt of FIS.

Entitlement to FIS is based on an applicant satisfying a means test and on certification of employment by the employer. My Department has consistently publicised the scheme in order to maximise uptake by qualified families. Following significant improvements in the qualifying income limits in the 2006 budget, my Department undertook a week-long, nationwide awareness campaign in March of that year to encourage increased take up of the scheme. This, combined with the improvements in the income limits, resulted in a strong upward trend in the level of new claims and consequently, claims for renewals.

To date in 2007, my Department has received 26,898 new and renewal FIS claims and has decided a total of 20,916 cases. At 14/09/2007 there were 10,604 claims awaiting decision. These were comprised of 4,317 new claims and 6,287 renewal claims. The average time it takes to award a FIS claim or renewal in 2007 (at end Aug) is 14.52 weeks. My 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 issued as expeditiously as possible having regard to the eligibility conditions which apply. Measures have been taken to improve the efficiency of claim processing for FIS:

A review of existing processes and procedures has been completed by my Department with the explicit objective of reducing delays in claim processing;

Priority is being given to claims where a claim is being renewed to ensure continuity of payment;

The ongoing staffing requirement was recently reviewed in the light of the current volumes of claims and renewals. In view of the efficiencies that the processing improvements are expected to generate, an increase in the staffing level was not warranted at this time.

These measures will lead to more efficient processing and reduce the number of claims on hand. The position is being closely monitored and kept under review by my Department.