Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 185: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average length of time currently taken to process an application for an old age pension; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17350/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that pension claims are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.

Claims for State Pension (Contributory) are now fully processed within four weeks of receipt of application where all information is available. Average processing times for all State Pension (Contributory) claims now stand at less than 9 weeks. At present, 78% of State Pension Non-Contributory claims are processed and decided within 10 weeks.

The Department has a process in place whereby people are proactively invited to claim State Pension Contributory in advance of reaching pension age in order to ensure their entitlement to pension is decided by the due date. Similarly, people who are in receipt of long term means tested payments, such as Disability Allowance, Jobseekers Allowance, etc. are also proactively notified to claim State Pension Non-Contributory in advance of reaching pension age.

In order to facilitate a good customer service all customers are advised to apply for a pension at least three months before reaching pension age.