Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her plans to improve entitlements in relation to the backdating of welfare payments; and if she will bring it into line with the four-year rule that applies to claiming tax credits from the Revenue Commissioners. [18621/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The legislative provisions relating to late claims for social welfare benefits are set out in Section 241 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, and in Regulations made under that section. These provisions set out the times within which a person must claim, the disqualifications which apply where a late claim is made, and the circumstances in which the time limits may be extended.

Since 1997 a number of improvements have been made to the provisions relating to late claims for social welfare payments. For example, prior to 1997 arrears of state pension contributory claims were limited to either three months or six months before the date of claim. Legislation introduced in 1997 extended that period to twelve months with proportional payments for certain periods prior to that.

The legislation also provides for payment to be made on foot of late claims in the case of all schemes, other than supplementary welfare allowance, for a period of 6 months prior to the date of claim, provided that there was good cause for the delay in claiming.

Changes introduced in 2000 provided for relaxation of the restrictions on backdating late claims under all schemes apart from jobseeker's benefit, jobseeker's allowance and supplementary welfare allowance and for further payment to be made, up to the level of full retrospection if the circumstances would warrant it, where:

the delay was due to incorrect information having been given by my Department, or

illness or a force majeure prevented a person from claiming earlier or,

the person is dependent on the arrears of payment to relieve financial hardship.

It is generally accepted that there is an obligation on people to claim their social welfare entitlements in time. However, cases will inevitably arise where they fail to do so and the legislative provisions are designed to cater for such situations. I am satisfied that the current provisions strike a reasonable balance between, on the one hand the need to exercise supervision and control of claims and, on the other hand, the need for appropriate recognition to be given to cases of genuine hardship or difficulty.