Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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127. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average waiting time from application to approval for the Covid-19 enhanced illness benefit, by month from January 2021 to date, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62168/21]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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128. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average waiting time from application to approval for illness benefit, by month from January 2021 to date, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62169/21]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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129. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps she has taken to address the lengthy delays in processing claims for illness benefit and Covid-19 enhanced illness benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62170/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 to 129, inclusive, together.

Standard Illness Benefit claims are automatically processed without delay once medical evidence has been received from the customer i.e. where an application is received and an e-Cert submitted by a GP.

COVID Illness Benefit (Enhanced Illness Benefit) is a scheme that was introduced in March 2020, to support people who are incapable of work or who are required to self-isolate, as a result of a COVID diagnosis or being a probable source of infection. To date a total of 217,313 COVID Illness Benefit related claims have been processed.

Over the past four weeks, an average of 8,000 COVID Illness Benefit applications has been received weekly with some 11,500 claims received last week. The medical evidence provided for the majority of these claims is a text from the HSE advising the person to self-isolate or that they have a COVID diagnosis. All of these claims require manual officer intervention to verify that the medical evidence provided by the customer is valid for payment.

Claims made between 29^thNovember and 5^thDecember, where medical evidence has been provided, are currently being processed. My Department has taken a number of measures to reduce processing times for COVID Illness Benefit including the temporary redeployment of staff from across the Department and system changes to increase automation within the process. It is expected that these measures will improve processing timelines in the coming weeks.

It is not possible to differentiate between Illness Benefit and COVID Illness Benefit in claim processing statistics, with one week being the current average processing timeline. Processing statistics for Illness Benefit for January 2021 to 10 December 2021 are set out in the table below.

A substantial number of claims received do not have appropriate medical evidence which adds to processing delays.

Standard Illness Benefit claims are automatically processed without delay once medical evidence has been received from the customer i.e. where an application is received and an e-Cert submitted by a GP.

COVID Illness Benefit (Enhanced Illness Benefit) is a scheme that was introduced in March 2020, to support people who are incapable of work or who are required to self-isolate, as a result of a COVID diagnosis or being a probable source of infection. To date a total of 217,313 COVID Illness Benefit related claims have been processed.

Over the past four weeks, an average of 8,000 COVID Illness Benefit applications has been received weekly with some 11,500 claims received last week. The medical evidence provided for the majority of these claims is a text from the HSE advising the person to self-isolate or that they have a COVID diagnosis. All of these claims require manual officer intervention to verify that the medical evidence provided by the customer is valid for payment.

Claims made between 29^thNovember and 5^thDecember, where medical evidence has been provided, are currently being processed. My Department has taken a number of measures to reduce processing times for COVID Illness Benefit including the temporary redeployment of staff from across the Department and system changes to increase automation within the process. It is expected that these measures will improve processing timelines in the coming weeks.

It is not possible to differentiate between Illness Benefit and COVID Illness Benefit in claim processing statistics, with one week being the current average processing timeline. Processing statistics for Illness Benefit for January 2021 to 10 December 2021 are set out in the table below.

A substantial number of claims received do not have appropriate medical evidence which adds to processing delays.

Standard Illness Benefit claims are automatically processed without delay once medical evidence has been received from the customer i.e. where an application is received and an e-Cert submitted by a GP.

COVID Illness Benefit (Enhanced Illness Benefit) is a scheme that was introduced in March 2020, to support people who are incapable of work or who are required to self-isolate, as a result of a COVID diagnosis or being a probable source of infection. To date a total of 217,313 COVID Illness Benefit related claims have been processed.

Over the past four weeks, an average of 8,000 COVID Illness Benefit applications has been received weekly with some 11,500 claims received last week. The medical evidence provided for the majority of these claims is a text from the HSE advising the person to self-isolate or that they have a COVID diagnosis. All of these claims require manual officer intervention to verify that the medical evidence provided by the customer is valid for payment.

Claims made between 29^thNovember and 5^thDecember, where medical evidence has been provided, are currently being processed. My Department has taken a number of measures to reduce processing times for COVID Illness Benefit including the temporary redeployment of staff from across the Department and system changes to increase automation within the process. It is expected that these measures will improve processing timelines in the coming weeks.

It is not possible to differentiate between Illness Benefit and COVID Illness Benefit in claim processing statistics, with one week being the current average processing timeline. Processing statistics for Illness Benefit for January 2021 to 10 December 2021 are set out in the table below.

Standard Illness Benefit claims are automatically processed without delay once medical evidence has been received from the customer i.e. where an application is received and an e-Cert submitted by a GP.

COVID Illness Benefit (Enhanced Illness Benefit) is a scheme that was introduced in March 2020, to support people who are incapable of work or who are required to self-isolate, as a result of a COVID diagnosis or being a probable source of infection. To date a total of 217,313 COVID Illness Benefit related claims have been processed.

Over the past four weeks, an average of 8,000 COVID Illness Benefit applications has been received weekly with some 11,500 claims received last week. The medical evidence provided for the majority of these claims is a text from the HSE advising the person to self-isolate or that they have a COVID diagnosis. All of these claims require manual officer intervention to verify that the medical evidence provided by the customer is valid for payment.

Claims made between 29^thNovember and 5^thDecember, where medical evidence has been provided, are currently being processed. My Department has taken a number of measures to reduce processing times for COVID Illness Benefit including the temporary redeployment of staff from across the Department and system changes to increase automation within the process. It is expected that these measures will improve processing timelines in the coming weeks.

It is not possible to differentiate between Illness Benefit and COVID Illness Benefit in claim processing statistics, with one week being the current average processing timeline. Processing statistics for Illness Benefit for January 2021 to 10 December 2021 are set out in the table below.

A substantial number of claims received do not have appropriate medical evidence which adds to processing delays.