Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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136. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there are delays in processing payments for the disability benefit following application approval; the average processing times for this payment by month as of March 2022, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33057/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Illness Benefit scheme is designed to provide support to those who cannot attend work in the short term due to illness.

To qualify for a payment under the terms of the Illness Benefit scheme a person must be under pensionable age, satisfy prescribed PRSI conditions and be certified by a doctor as being incapable of attending work due to illness.

Details of the average processing times for  Illness Benefit claims by month as of March 2022  are shown in the table below. 

There are currently no processing delays for Illness Benefit applications when all relevant supporting documentation is submitted. Applications that require officer review to ensure eligibility for payment can take longer to process. My officials consistently work to clear all claims as quickly as possible.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the deputy.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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137. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 1073 of 14 June 2022, if all recipients and applicants for social welfare payments who are requested to provide additional information to her Department are provided with pre-paid postage envelopes to do so free of charge; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33069/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As outlined in the previous reply, prepaid envelopes are provided for all our social welfare schemes, necessitating 119 Free post licenses.  In cases where a customer is requested by telephone to provide additional information a freepost envelope would not normally be issued, as this would lead to unnecessary delays.   A freepost envelope would of course be available on request.