Parliamentary Question for the Minister for Social Protection (Joan Burton TD)
For WRITTEN ANSWER on 29/05/2014
To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider introducing measures to eliminate or reduce the delays in receiving payment from her Department by persons who work on a seasonal or occasional basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Reply
I am not aware of any undue delays in processing claims for jobseekers payments. For claims processed in April, the average time to award a claim was 1 week for Jobseeker’s Benefit and 2 weeks for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Where a person states that they have found work, it is normal practice for a jobseeker claim to be closed. However, in cases where the customer informs the Department in advance that they are taking up a short period of temporary work or training (up to 8 weeks), arrangements are now in place to simplify the process of returning to the live register at the end of this period.
In these cases, instead of closing the claim, payment is suspended temporarily for the duration of the work or training course. When the person signs on again after the period of work or training, the claim can be reactivated without delay and payment restored.