Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 197: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if a payment will be issued to a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [37241/09]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department administers the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in relation to redundancy matters on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. There are two types of payment made from the SIF – rebates to those employers who have paid statutory redundancy to eligible employees, and statutory lump sums to employees whose employers are insolvent and/or in receivership/liquidation.

The Redundancy Payments Section of my Department received a statutory lump sum claim from the individual concerned on 11 September 2009. When an employer claims inability to pay, the onus is on the employer to provide sufficient proof to substantiate the claim. In this case, further information has been requested from the employer to allow a decision to be reached and the claim to be processed. If the former employer does not forward the required information it may be necessary for the employee to take a case to the Employment Appeals Tribunal against the employer. In respect of lump sum payments paid directly to employees in instances where employers are unable to pay the statutory redundancy entitlements and where all of the required supporting documentation has been submitted, the Section is, in general, processing lump sum claims dating from June '09.

Given the unprecedented increase in Redundancy Payment claims lodged with my Department in since late 2008 it has proved impossible to maintain the customer service targets that previously obtained. The scale of the challenge is evident from the statistics that show incoming redundancy claims with a cumulative figure for the first nine months of 2009 at 60,785 an increase of 122% on the same period last year (27,373). This figure of 60,785 exceeds the claims lodged for the full year 2008 (40,607) and 2008 was, of itself, an exceptional year as compared with earlier years when claims received were of the order of 25,000.

Efforts continue to be made by the Tánaiste and I to deliver more acceptable turnaround processing times for redundancy payments given the difficulties that this gives rise to for both individual employees and the business community. Measures already taken include:

· the reassignment of 26.7 additional staff (full time equivalents) from other areas of the Department to the Redundancy Payments area since early 2009 with ongoing review of trends and demands. The current number of staff serving in the Redundancy Payments Section in terms of full time equivalents is 53.8;

· the prioritisation of the Department's overtime budget towards staff in the Redundancy Payments Section to tackle the backlog outside normal hours;

· the establishment of a special call handling facility to deal with the huge volume of telephone calls from people and businesses who are naturally concerned about their payments, using the facilities and cooperation of the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA). This centre has received an average of 12,500 calls per month this year with an estimated 60% relating to redundancy payments;

· The provision of better quality information relating to current processing times on the Department's website;

· Engagement with the Revenue Commissioners to facilitate the offset of redundancy rebate payments by employers against outstanding tax liabilities with the Revenue Commissioners.

The Tánaiste and I continue to monitor closely the impact of these changes against the continuing influx of redundancy claims and will consider further measures to deal with the situation should current measures prove to be inadequate.