Written answers

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Department of Social Protection

Pension Provisions

8:00 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 378: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average time taken to process an application for contributory or non-contributory old age pension on a monthly basis over the past two years and to date in 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28355/12]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. As part of its programme of service delivery modernisation, all scheme areas are subject to continuous business process improvement, and a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented in recent years. The Department has already automated the State pension (contributory) scheme, and in 2011, as part of the Department's programme of service delivery modernisation, the State pension (non-contributory) moved onto the new IT platform. This has enabled the Department to deal with a very significant increase in claim load without increasing staffing resources. Claims are processed in the most efficient and expeditious way possible, having regard to the eligibility conditions that apply to each scheme.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the tables.

Table 1: State pension (contributory) claim processing times:

State pension contributory2010Average weeksto award2011Average weeksto award2012Average weeks to award
January775
February755
March654
April766
May96
June96
July94
August115
September86
October64
November63
December73

Table 2: State pension (non-contributory) claim processing times:

State pension (non-contributory)2010Average weeksto award2011Average weeks to award2012Average weeks to award
January91011
February8910
March8910
April99*11
May1112
June1015
July810
August87
September99
October99
November109
December1010

*IT system changed.

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