Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for jobseeker's benefit; the number of applicants currently waiting for their jobseeker's benefit application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5226/13]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for jobseeker's allowance; the number of applicants are currently waiting for their jobseeker's allowance application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5227/13]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for one parent family payment; the number of applicants currently waiting for their one parent family payment application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5231/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 410, 411 and 415 together.

In 2012, a total of 432,557 claims for jobseeker’s allowance, jobseeker’s benefit and one-parent family payment were received in my Department’s Local Offices. At the 31 December 2012 there were 29,556 claims (6.8% of the total received) awaiting decision. A breakdown of the number of claims awaiting a decision by scheme together with the average waiting time from date of application to award in weeks is contained in the tabular statement. It is to be noted that both jobseekers allowance and one parent family payments are subject to an assessment of means and other qualifying conditions. Accordingly, processing times are longer than for jobseekers benefit which is a PRSI contributions based payment.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection he current waiting time for an application for mortgage interest supplement; the number of applicants currently waiting for their mortgage interest supplement application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5228/13]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for rent supplement; the number of applicants currently waiting for their rent supplement application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5234/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 412 and 418 together.

There are currently approximately 88,000 persons in receipt of rent supplement and 14,400 in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, for which the Government has provided over €445 million in 2013. The timescale for determining applications for rent and mortgage interest supplements is dependent, among other things, on the availability of the required information, such as details of the applicant’s income, bank statements etc. In addition, some aspects of the application are inevitably time consuming and delays can occur where investigations such as home visits or third party evidence are required. Delays can also arise if the applicant is slow to respond to requests for additional information.

Statistics are not available on the length of time taken to assess rent and mortgage interest supplement applications or the number of applications awaiting a decision. However, the average time to award a claim under the various supplementary welfare allowance schemes, including rent and mortgage interest supplement, is one week. The provision of a prompt service is a major objective for the Department’s staff dealing with rent and mortgage interest supplement applications. This is tempered by the necessity to ensure that every case is fully investigated and that all cases are dealt with in a consistent and fair manner. I am satisfied that the Department’s staff dealing with these applications make every effort to ensure rent and mortgage interest supplement claims are processed in an efficient manner.