Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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314. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will review the centralisation of the community welfare service to new main centres, as it is resulting in the removal of community welfare officers from the their local communities, creating further difficulty and hardship for already vulnerable families and persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16667/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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One of the primary aims in the transfer of the Community Welfare Service (CWS) from the Health Service Executive to the Department on 1 October 2011 was to provide a streamlined and consistent service to customers. As part of this process and to support the Department’s activation commitments under the Pathways to Work Programme and the development of Intreo services nationally, it has been necessary to review the administration of all its services across its remit including the CWS.

The Pathways to Work Programme represents a significant reform in the social welfare system and highlighted the need for the Department to focus its resources on the provision of opportunities, supports and assistance to people on the live register by intensifying the Department’s level of engagement with people who are unemployed and in particular those who are, or become, long term unemployed. The new Intreo service offers practical, tailored employment services and supports for jobseekers, a model which is currently being rolled out across the country.

Overall, this is resulting in a rebalancing of resources across the Department’s range of activities including the relocation of some staff to main centres, primarily Intreo offices, which will provide a full range of services, including the CWS and these will, in general, be available in one location. Where the community welfare service has been re-structured, I am satisfied that alternative arrangements have been put in place to ensure that customers are provided with on-going access to the supports provided by the service. In general, the frequency and staffing levels of public clinics has increased providing customers improved access to services.

Customers are being informed of the new arrangements including details of times and days of the relocated clinics and phone contacts. If a person is unable to travel to a new clinic, for example due to illness, alternative arrangements are in place including arranging a visit to the client’s home if necessary.

People claiming supports under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme generally only interact with the Department on an occasional basis, for example, when seeking an exceptional needs payment or in claiming additional supports such as rent supplement, which are usually reviewed once to twice yearly.

The Department is continuously reviewing the staffing needs for all areas of its business, to ensure that the best possible use is made of available resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department and that the services provided are reconstituted, where necessary, to meet the changing needs of Irish society.