Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications for family income supplement that were received by her Department before 5 November 2012 that are not yet processed; the timescale for concluding these cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57595/12]

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.

FIS claims, both new and renewal, received on or after the 5th November 2012 are currently being processed on receipt. On 2 November 2012 there were 7,390 (approx.) new FIS applications and 7,810 (approx.) renewal applications awaiting approval. There are 7,370 (approx.) new FIS applications and 4,290 (approx.) renewal applications currently awaiting approval.

An in-depth Business Process Improvement (BPI) project has recently been completed for the FIS scheme. This project focused on optimising output, improving customer service and the elimination of backlogs.

The outcome of this review is a detailed plan outlining the process required to manage both the continuous weekly intake and backlog claims clearance. This plan sees the current weekly new claim and renewal intake processed by one team, while the backlog is ring-fenced and a focused team assigned to this work with a clear plan for its elimination.

The team including additional temporary resources has been identified and is already assigned and working on the backlog claims. In order to reduce the time it will take to eliminate the backlog, some claims are being processed outside of Longford Social Welfare Services Office. This team is fully focused on the elimination of the backlog of claims in the shortest possible timeframe, concentrating in the first instance on those claims which were previously in payment but where payment has expired and continuing on to first-time new claims. Within those categories, those waiting the longest will be processed first.

It is expected that the backlog will be fully eliminated by the end of March 2013. Claims which are approved by the backlog team will be backdated to the date of claim or the date of expiry of the previous claim, as appropriate, and all arrears due will be paid.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications for family income supplement that were received by her Department before 5 November 2012 that are not yet processed; the timescale for concluding these cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter.