Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 182: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average time required to process an application for old age pension or similar payments; her proposals to speed up this process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18859/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Claims for State Pension (Contributory) and State Pension (Transition) are now fully processed within three weeks of receipt of the applications where all information is available. Average processing times for all claims now stand at less than 8 weeks for a State Pension (Contributory) and 5 weeks for State Pension (Transition). The Department has commenced claim initiation on the State Pension Contributory scheme whereby customers are proactively invited to claim pensions in advance of reaching pension age in order to ensure their entitlement to pension is decided by the due date.

Over the past year 59% of State Pension Non-Contributory claims were processed and decided within 8 weeks. The processes involved in deciding claims for the schemes are currently being reviewed with a view to reducing the time taken to decide claims. In order to facilitate a good customer service people are advised to apply for pension at least three months before reaching pension age so that their entitlement can be determined as close as possible to the due date.