Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average waiting time for family income supplement (FIS) renewals at the end of May is approximately 15 weeks. At the end of May, there were approximately 6,289 renewal applications awaiting approval. The volume of FIS renewals on hands and the delays in processing are a consequence of continued strong claim intake.

At present application forms for renewals are issued one month in advance of the expiry of the current payment. Applications for renewal of FIS are then processed in order of the date of expiry of the current payment and not by date of receipt of a completed renewal form. Earlier issue of the renewal application would not facilitate the collection of the most up to date customer information to ensure the fairest calculation of entitlement for the next 52 week payment period of FIS.

The Department has introduced a number of measures to address the efficiency of claim processing for FIS in light of the current waiting times:

· Existing processes and procedures are reviewed on an ongoing basis with the explicit objective of reducing delays in claim processing;

· The ongoing staffing requirement is being kept under review in light of the increased volumes of claims;

· Additional temporary staff are being recruited to help reduce the backlog;

· Overtime working is being judiciously applied;

· Priority is being given to renewal claims to ensure restoration of payment as promptly as possible following review at renewal stage. These measures will, over time, lead to more efficient processing and reduce the number of claims on hand. The position is being closely monitored and kept under review by the Department.