Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 415: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will outline the current backlog experienced by new claimants for invalidity pension payments; the total number of outstanding applications; the average length of time each new claim takes to process from initial application to payment; the number of staff allocated to deal with new claims; the steps that she will take to significantly reduce the backlog; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20099/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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At the end of March 2012 there were 7,040 Invalidity Pension (IP) claims registered and awaiting decision. Approximately 280 new IP claims are received each week. The current average time to award is 32 weeks. However, it should be noted that this includes the time taken to decide EU & bilateral cases which have a significantly longer processing time. It is not possible at present to report separately on domestic claim processing times and on the times for EU/bilateral cases. There are 26 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff currently assigned to work on all areas of new claims processing and 2 additional full-time temporary staff allocated to assist with backlogs. The current total of 28 FTE staff includes supervisors and clerical staff. Their duties involve deciding new domestic claims, deciding EU and bilateral claims, processing arrears, carrying out reviews on decisions as requested by customers, preparing appeals papers for submission to the Social Welfare Appeals Office and management and maintenance of the system used for claim processing.

In an effort to ensure continuity of payment, priority is given to applications received from illness benefit (IB) recipients whose payment is due to expire. Therefore applicants who are in receipt of a continuous IB payment which will not expire provided they continue to satisfy the medical criteria will take longer to process. Since the introduction of the two year expiration of IB there has been a significant increase in the number of IP claims received in this department. A high percentage of these applicants are not suitable for the IP scheme as they are not medically assessed as being permanently incapable of work.

The processing time for individual IP claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the qualifying criteria. In addition, factors outside the department's control can have an impact, for example, insufficient information received from claimants at time of application and delays in claimants furnishing the information requested

This Department is continually reviewing its processes in an effort to improve processing times and customer service. Many improvements have already been introduced in IP section. Since June 2011 all IP claims are processed on a new IT platform under the department's service delivery model project. This has led to further efficiencies in processing which resulted in an increase in the number of claims processed. Most claims are now desk assessed by medical assessors to determine medical suitability. Two temporary staff have been assigned to the IP area to help to reduce the backlog and waiting time. Overtime has been made available and is utilised on a judicious basis. Business process improvement is carried out in the IP new claims area on a continuous basis. Despite these improvements it is expected to be a significant number of months before the backlog is reduced to an acceptable level.