Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 318: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will ensure that there is an orderly system of queuing in all social welfare offices that respects the dignity of the people in the queues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21064/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Live Register has increased to unprecedented levels as a result of the economic downturn that the country is currently experiencing. This in turn has led to large numbers attending at our offices and the consequent delays that claimants are experiencing.

In order to deal with extensive queuing, we have introduced an appointment system for taking claims in a number of offices with high volumes. Under this initiative, when a person first attends at a local office to claim, they are given details of the supporting documents required together with an appointment to make their claims. The appointment system has been introduced in 16 local offices to date and will be extended to a number of other offices over the coming months having regard to the volume of new claims at particular offices.

The signing arrangements for people who are already on the live register have been reviewed at a number of offices and additional signing days have been introduced where necessary. In addition, at some offices specific signing times have been allocated to claimants to reduce queuing times. The Department has instituted a number of process improvement measures in order to improve the claim taking process. In addition, we are reviewing the processes involved in administering claims for those who are working reduced hours i.e. part-time, casual and systematic short time. The existing arrangements are very labour intensive and it is envisaged that more streamlined arrangements which will benefit both customers and the Department will be introduced in the near future. These improvements are part of a programme of streamlining initiatives being developed by the Department and it is intended that further improvements will be introduced on an on-going basis during 2009.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to incidents whereby persons receiving jobseeker's benefit, who have been offered temporary work for a number of weeks and which holds some prospect of possible long-term employment, are unwilling to take the short-term position since the person would then have to, for the sake of a short period of employment, withdraw from jobseeker's benefit and are reluctant to so due to the difficulties experienced in seeking such payment in the first place and fears that returning to the system following such period of employment would again mean a lengthy period waiting for payment to resume; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21076/09]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 320: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to incidents whereby employers seeking to offer short-term work to persons receiving jobseeker's benefit, but who have not been successful in this due to the persons in question being unwilling to withdraw temporarily from the social welfare system, have contacted her Department to seek clarification of difficulties in this regard but have yet to be responded to; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21077/09]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 321: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if, particularly in view of the current economic difficulties, it is proposed to simplify and streamline the bureaucratic transition from receiving jobseeker's allowance to temporary paid employment and back; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21078/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 319 to 321, inclusive, together.

The Deputy will be aware of the huge increase in the number of people applying for jobseeker's payments in recent months. This has placed increased pressure on all of the Department's offices and on branch offices. Staff in these offices are working extremely hard to process claims as quickly as possible.

In order to deal with the unprecedented number of claims, during the past year additional staff have been assigned to local offices throughout the country. Many offices are now at capacity in relation to accommodation and to support these offices the Department has set up four central decision units around the country and a further three are planned.

In addition, since early in 2008 we have been examining all aspects of the work associated with the processing of claims and streamlining them wherever possible with a view to expediting decisions.

For several years, the Department has operated a fast-tracking system for certain categories of claims. For example, where a person supplies all the necessary information and documentation to support their claim at the outset, their claim will be decided ahead of other claimants who have not produced all of the required information. Customers who have already established entitlement on an earlier claim and who then sign off to go to work will, generally speaking, not require significant re-investigation of entitlement if they have to sign-on again and will fall into the fast-tracking arrangements. There should be only minimal delay in deciding this type of claim. Inevitably there will be some claims that may require further examination and delays may arise in such cases. However, these should be the minority of cases. Where there is a delay in processing a jobseeker's claim, the person may apply for Supplementary Welfare Allowance from the local Community Welfare Officer.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 325: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she has taken steps to ensure that the changes to rent supplement announced in the supplementary Budget of 7 April 2009 will not cause undue hardship to tenants whose landlords refuse to lower their rents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21288/09]

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 327: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the action she is taking to assist persons affected by the cut in rent supplement benefit; if she entered into discussion with landlords in receipt of benefit cheques regarding the impact of the reduction of rent supplement benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21309/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 325 and 327 together.

There are currently over 87,000 people in receipt of rent supplement, an increase of 46% since the end of December 2007. The recent Supplementary Budget provided that the weekly minimum contribution payable towards rent be increased from €18 to €24 a week, with effect from 1 June 2009. It also provided that payments currently being made to existing rent supplement tenants be reduced by a further 8% from the same date. While tenants may be contractually obliged to pay the rent agreed to in their lease, it is expected that landlords will decrease the rent in recognition of the fact that rents have fallen generally and that there are now a large number of vacant rental properties nationally.

Data published by the CSO shows that rents fell by almost 7% between November 2008 and February 2009. A leading property website recently reported that rents have fallen by almost 16% in the twelve months to March 2009 with 5% of the fall occurring since the start of 2009. It is essential that state support for tenants who form a substantial section of the rental market, does not give rise to inflated rental prices and overcharging by landlords.

Other changes in the Supplementary Budget provide for new maximum rent limits to be prescribed in regulations to take effect from 1 June 2009 to reflect the general reductions in private sector rent levels.

Existing recipients of rent supplement are being advised by letter this week of the change being made to their rent payment and this communication can be shown to landlords as evidence of the revised rent supplement in payment in individual cases. Landlords have already been advised through advertising in national newspapers of the general reduction in rent supplement payments. There will be further advertisements in provincial newspapers later this week. A number of organisations representing landlords and tenants have also been contacted and advised of the changes to the rent supplement scheme.

In the current climate, where there is a large number of vacant rental properties, it is expected that people will be able to get accommodation at the appropriate rental level.

Community Welfare Officers have discretion to provide assistance where exceptional circumstances exist in any individual case e.g. where homelessness might result due to the inability of a person to meet their rent payment. The Department is also in discussions with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government regarding the role of local authorities who are responsible for providing a wide range of social housing supports for those with a long-term housing need.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 326: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that applicants for jobseeker's allowance are being told at social welfare offices that they may have to wait up to 14 weeks for their applications to be processed; if she is monitoring these waiting times; if so, the average waiting time; the measures being taken to expedite the processing of applications and the reduction of waiting times, particularly in view of the fact that in the 1980s such waiting times were shorter, despite the absence of computerisation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21301/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Live Register has increased to unprecedented levels as a result of the economic downturn that the country is currently experiencing. The length of time it takes to process claims varies depending on the complexity of the claim, the availability of the necessary documentation from the applicant or his/her employer and the need to carry out additional enquires including assessment of means and whether the claimant satisfies the Habitual Residence Condition.

Furthermore, processing times can vary from office to office for a number of reasons including the extent of the increased number of claims, the number of staff vacancies, the duration of such vacancies and the turnover of staff in the office which impacts on the overall level of experience in the office.

The average time for jobseeker's allowance claims decided in April was 7 weeks. During the past year additional staff have been assigned to local offices. In addition, as many local offices are very close to capacity as regards accommodating further staff, we have set up a number of central support units around the country. Four such units are currently set up in Dublin, Sligo, Finglas and Carrick-on-Shannon. Each unit has 10 staff. It is now planned to establish three further units with 10 staff each in Roscommon, Tallaght and Wexford. As well as assigning additional staff to local offices, a further 16 Social Welfare Inspectors have been assigned to various locations throughout the country to undertake means testing and other work associated with processing claims for the jobseeker's allowance.

The Department recognises that the provision of additional staff in itself will not deal with the rising claimload. Since early 2008 we have been examining all aspects of the work associated with the processing of claims and streamlining them wherever possible without, of course, compromising our scheme controls.

The following initiatives have been introduced at all local and branch offices. A new streamlined process has been introduced for people who had a claim in the previous 2 years. The application form has been simplified so that the claimant has only to provide details of circumstances that have changed since the previous claim. A simplified procedure has been introduced for people moving to jobseeker's allowance when their jobseeker's benefit expires. More straight-forward procedures have been introduced for providing evidence of identity and address.

Application forms for jobseeker schemes are now available on the Department's website with comprehensive information on claiming a jobseeker's payment including details of the supporting documents required. This means that a person making a claim for jobseeker's benefit or allowance can download and complete a claim form and bring it to their nearest local office. An appointment system for taking claims is in operation in a number of offices. There are plans to extend this to other offices with high volumes of new claims over the coming months.

In addition, a review of the processes involved in administering claims for those who are working reduced hours i.e. part-time, casual and systematic short time is under way. The existing arrangements are very labour intensive and it is envisaged that more streamlined arrangements, which will benefit both customers and the Department, will be introduced in the near future.

These improvements are part of a programme of initiatives being developed by the Department to streamline processes and procedures in local and branch offices and it is intended that further improvements will be implemented on an ongoing basis during 2009. The Deputy will be aware that anyone who is under financial pressure while awaiting a decision on their claim for a jobseeker's payment can apply for Supplementary Welfare Allowance which is subject to a means test and other qualifying conditions.

Question No. 327 answered with Question No. 325.