Written answers

Wednesday, 2 April 2008

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Customer Service Performance

9:00 pm

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 148: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the steps he is taking to improve his Department's application processing times and overall customer service performance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12184/08]

Photo of Martin CullenMartin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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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 staff and other resources available to the Department are regularly reviewed having regard to the workload arising and other competing demands. The available resources are then used to discharge the Department's obligations towards its customers and in implementing cost effective controls to prevent and detect fraud and abuse.

The Department's management services unit monitors available resources against workload on an ongoing basis with a view to ensuring optimum processing times for claims.

The processing of applications under any of the schemes operated by my Department can require the collection and assessment of a complex range of information in relation to a variety of factors including means, medical condition, domestic and EU contributions and other criteria.

This can involve medical assessments of applicants, the verification of information provided through visits by the social welfare inspectorate, correspondence and evidence from other EU jurisdictions, all of which add to the processing time required to ensure that the terms of the scheme are correctly administered. In addition the timescales in processing applications for some of the Department's schemes have been influenced by increases in the numbers of claims being submitted.

Measures introduced by the Department to address the efficiency of claim processing include the following:

The review of existing processes and procedures on an ongoing basis with the explicit objective of reducing delays in claim processing;

In situations where payment is being renewed priority is being given to these claims to ensure continuity of payment;

The review of ongoing staffing requirements in light of the increased volumes of claims in certain areas;

The judicious application of overtime working;

Where backlogs exist extra temporary staff have been recruited, where appropriate, to eliminate these;

The introduction of scanning technology in certain areas to update details directly from claim forms to computer systems.

These measures will, over time, 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.

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