Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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599. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the expected timeframe for a decision to be made on an application for the one-parent family payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12931/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.

Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the different qualification criteria. Also, means-tested payments can require more detailed investigation and interaction with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision-making process.

As at January 2021 I can confirm that 95% of applications for One Parent Family Allowance were processed within 10 weeks and that, on average, applications are awarded within 2 weeks.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.