Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 41: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the balance of the social insurance fund for each of the past ten years; the projected balance for the next three years; the expected deficit for 2010; the details on the way this deficit will be met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21634/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Social Insurance Fund comprises a current account and an investment account. To the extent that annual income is not required for benefit payments, this finance, together with the accumulated surplus from previous years is transferred to the investment account. Annual surpluses were a feature of the fund between 1996 and 2007. The highest annual surplus was realised in 2006. The accumulated surplus was €240m in 1999, it peaked in 2007 when the balance in the fund reached €3,632 million and subsequently fell to €934m by the end of 2009.

In 2010 the Fund will exhaust the cash balance held in the investment account. The operating deficit of the Fund at the end of 2010 is estimated to be €1.55 billion. This deficit will be borne by the Exchequer by means of a subvention from the Oireachtas – Vote 38. The authorisation of the House was given on 29th April to permit funding to be drawn down for use in the Social Insurance Fund. It is forecast that the Social Insurance Fund expenditure will exceed its income in each of the years 2011 to 2013, with the deficit continuing to be borne by means of a subvention from the Exchequer.

The Social Insurance Fund will continue to hold a capital asset over this period represented in the form of Department's headquarters property in Store Street, Dublin. A table outlining the income, expenditure, annual surplus or deficit and balances over the ten year period will be made available to the Deputies.

Balance in Social Insurance Fund 1999 - 2009

* the accounts for financial year 2009 are currently being prepared so the above figures are provisional

Projected Balance in Social Insurance Fund 2011-2013

^^ Social Welfare Benefits ^^

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 42: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of one parent family payments suspended due to an error in the system whereby the annual review and declaration form was not issued to claimants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21618/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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All recipients of the one-parent family payment are asked to complete, an annual review form (OFP 40) to certify that they continue to fulfil the conditions for payment. The form is generated automatically and the customer is allowed two weeks to return it to the Department. If the form is not returned or not returned in time, the payment is automatically suspended by the computer system. On 13 May local offices of the Department began to receive enquiries from some OFP customers who stated that their payment was not in the post office when they called to collect it.

Following an investigation in the computer operations area of the Department it transpired that due to an oversight, a batch of approximately 400 OFP 40 forms had not been processed and the usual controls for monitoring this work had failed on this occasion. When the Regional Director's Office of the Department was alerted to the problem, they instructed local offices to reinstate payment to any customer who enquired about the non payment.

At this stage payment has been restored to the majority of customers affected. However, in approximately 30 cases where payment was stopped, we have received no contact from the customer about their payment. I have arranged for the Department to contact these customers to establish whether they continue to fulfil the conditions for entitlement to the one parent family payment and in such cases to make appropriate arrangements to restore payment without further delay. I very much regret the inconvenience caused to customers by the failure to issue the forms and I can assure the Deputy that the Department is reviewing its procedures for issuing such forms.