Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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1672. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the time limits for backdating all social welfare payments under the remit of her Department, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1923/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The primary legislation governing claims and late claims is set out in Sections 241, 342 and 342A of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended. The legislation requires that persons must claim their entitlements within a specific period from the date their entitlement arises - this is referred to as the 'prescribed time'. The prescribed times for each payment are set out in the table. Once a claim is made within the prescribed time for that particular payment, it is automatically backdated to the date of entitlement.

Where a claim is made after the prescribed time, a statutory disqualification or disallowance is incurred. However, the legislation gives the deciding officer some discretion to backdate the payment, where the claim is received after the prescribed time, in exceptional circumstances and where the relevant regulations allow. These regulations allow for circumstances where the claimant establishes there was ‘good cause’ for delay, or that they were inadvertently misinformed by an officer of the Department, or incapacitated and unable to make the claim on time.

The table sets out the prescribed times for making a claim for each scheme and the provisions to backdate payments where appropriate.

Each late claim is assessed by Deciding Officers and is based on the contentions put forward by the applicant and evaluating the available evidence. The deciding officer may decide to backdate the payment, within the limits set out in the table, depending on the circumstances and according to legislative provisions pertaining to each scheme.

The legislation allows a Deciding Officer the discretion to back date the payment for up to 6 months where he/she is satisfied that the claimant had ‘good cause’ for failing to apply within the prescribed time, provided of course that the claimant was eligible during the 6 months. This limitation does not apply in the case of Child Benefit.

Backdating of a late claim beyond 6 months can be considered only in specific circumstances whereby the failure to claim arose as the result of either incorrect information being supplied by the Department or the claimant’s incapacity due to illness or infirmity.

Where the failure to claim within the prescribed time arose as a result of erroneous information supplied by staff of the Department, the claim may be backdated to the date of commencement of entitlement.

All decisions with regard to entitlement under these provisions are made by deciding officers, and can therefore be appealed to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO).

The Department has published information on Claims and Late Claims on www.welfare.ie.

Table: Prescribed time for making a claim and possible period(s) for backdating payments in specified conditions, for each scheme