Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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123. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he has considered additional staffing given increased applications for additional needs payments. [8364/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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134. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection his plans to improve the community welfare service; if he intends to hire more community welfare officers across the State, given the increased workload with recent storms and other increased calls on the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8581/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 123 and 134 together.

The delivery of vital locally based Community Welfare Services to meet the challenges and the needs of citizens across the country remains a priority for me and my Department. The Community Welfare Service (CWS) provides a flexible service to meet the different needs of clients, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is a priority that this service is easily accessible and responsive to our client’s needs.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments (ANPs) to help meet expenses that an eligible person cannot pay from their weekly income. The ANP scheme is demand led and administered by Designated Persons (DPs) in the Community Welfare Service (CWS), taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.

Notwithstanding recent pressures arising from increase in work levels from Storm Éowyn, there is currently no delay in processing ANPs and work on hand is within the scheme's normal processing levels. This is due to the ability of the Community Welfare Service to deal with surges in service demands that arise.

Fully completed ANP applications, where the required documentation is supplied, are processed within ten days. Where it is clear that a person has an urgent or immediate need, every effort is made to ensure that the claim is processed on the same day. Community Welfare Officers (CWOs) have the facility to issue and do issue same-day manual cheque payments where it is deemed necessary.

My Department has taken a number of steps to increase the staffing resource capacity in recent years to improve services, and also to increase CWS capabilities including:

- The introduction of a dedicated national CWS phoneline 0818 60 70 80 where people can have initial enquires resolved, or where they can arrange to make an appointment and speak directly with a CWO. This means that a person does not need to meet with a CWO to make an application and can speak with a CWO over the phone if they do not wish to travel to meet in person.

- Ensuring the availability of CWOs in over 50 Intreo Centres across the country where they are available to meet customers every day without an appointment during business hours Monday to Friday. Previously customers need to know the times and locations of part-time clinics and there was no or limited cover for CWOs absent due to illness, leave or training. In addition, CWOs are available by appointment to travel to other locations, including the customer's home if necessary.

- The appointment of additional staff in administrative support hubs, to take-on the more routine administrative tasks associated with claim processing, thus freeing up front-line CWOs to deal directly with customers and their claims.

- The formation of a dedicated CWS national response decisions team who can assist with claims processing for any location in the country, ensuring a flexible and immediate response to mitigate the impact of any surge in claims within a specific local area. This approach allows local officers to focus on immediate and urgent needs, ensuring that critical resources are directed where they are most needed.

- The introduction of an online claims facility via www.mywelfare.ie . This means that customers now submit a claim for an Additional Needs Payment online. The claim can then be dealt with by any CWO not just those in the person's local area.

The CWS operates in a fast changing environment and so pressure indicators are closely monitored in my Department, and resources deployed, as necessary to meet the varied challenges which are now frequently handled by the CWS. Readiness levels are continuously assessed, and the CWS, in anticipation of a surge in Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS) claim applications following a Red Level storm event, proactively planned for and put into effect additional resources to deal with the expected higher volume of claims. This included the relocation of CWOs on an interim basis to the areas most impacted in addition to additional administrative assistance supports from other areas across the Department.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.