Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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320. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will report on the delays in processing maternity benefit claims; the time it is now taking to process the postal claims and online claims; and the number of claims that are taking two weeks, a month, two months or longer, respectively. [25929/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Maternity benefit section is currently experiencing some difficulty with processing all claims in advance of their maternity leave commencement date. Corrective actions have been taken and progress is being made. However, there are still a number of mothers that will receive their first payment up to 3 to 4 weeks after they commence their maternity leave. The number has reduced to 700 at 29 May, down from 1,100 based on a count at 22 May.

Additional staff have been assigned and staff from other sections are also supporting maternity section on a temporary basis. Staff have also been working overtime, including Saturdays, to ensure as many claims as possible get processed and paid by their leave commencement date. The focus remains on ensuring that all claims are processed as quickly as possible.

Claims submitted in paper format continue to take on average 6 weeks to process. However, claims are processed by reference to the ‘commencement of maternity leave date’ as this ensures as many new mothers as possible have their claim awarded by the time they take their maternity leave. The departmental standard requires 90% of maternity claims to be processed before the start of the leave date. Statistics are not compiled on the basis requested by the Deputy, differentiating between claims that take two weeks, a month, etc. so it is not possible to provide this information.

Where a claim is made online, it is decided immediately by way of a fully automated process, providing that the conditions are met and the necessary documentation is attached. Efforts continue to be made to promote online applications and I would ask the Deputy to encourage expectant mothers to avail of this facility.