Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 1345: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the waiting period for processing of applications for jobseeker's allowance and jobseekers benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30848/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department is committed to providing a quality customer 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. These conditions vary between the two jobseeker schemes and involve, among other things, the need to establish the person's social insurance record, establish the person's identity or their place of habitual residence and to assess means where appropriate. In some cases delays arise where the person fails to supply all pertinent information in support of their application. The average processing time for applications processed in August was 3 weeks for jobseekers benefit claims and 5 weeks for jobseekers allowance claims.

The overall performance in any individual office in processing claims can be adversely affected by a wide variety of factors; including increased inflow of claims,staff vacancies and the duration of such vacancies and the turnover of staff in the office. Since the beginning of year there has been a significant increase in the number of claims for a jobseeker payment and the Department has taken a number of measures to deal with the increased workload. These measures include the allocation of additional posts to local offices, extending the contracts of some temporary staff and sanctioning overtime. At a local level work is prioritised to deal with claim processing. These measures will be kept under review.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 1346: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the waiting period for the processing of applications for carer's allowance and carer's benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30849/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The average time for deciding a claim for carer's allowance is currently 15.6 weeks. Entitlement to carer's allowance is based on an applicant satisfying medical, means and residency conditions. In determining entitlement to the allowance there are, in certain cases, unavoidable time lags involved in making the necessary investigations and enquiries to enable accurate decisions to be made. Delays can also arise if people applying for the allowance are not in a position to supply all the necessary information in support of their claim. Many applicants for carer's allowance are already in receipt of another social welfare payment while their claim is being processed. The number of claims for carers allowance submitted in 2007 was 18,000 compared to 10,700 in 2006, an increase of 68%. A total of 13,900 new applications for Carer's Allowance have been received this year to date (week end 12 September 2008). The large increase in applications received is mainly due to the introduction of the half rate carer's allowance payment which came into effect from 27 September 2007. Entitlement to carer's benefit is based on an applicant satisfying medical, employment and PRSI contribution conditions.

The average time for deciding an application for carer's benefit is currently 8 weeks. During 2007 the average time to decide a claim was 12 weeks. The number of claims for Carer's Benefit submitted in 2007 was 2,403 compared to 2,221 in 2006. A total of 1,728 new applications have been received this year to date (week end 12th September 2008).