Charity alleges red tape clogging system

Red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy are delaying people getting their welfare entitlements, one of the major Dublin charities has said.

Centrecare, a project of the Dublin diocesan social care agency Crosscare, yesterday called for an "end to the maze of bureaucracy associated with social welfare entitlements".

Speaking at the publication of the Centrecare annual report yesterday, the charity's co-ordinator, Ms Yvonne Fleming, said people were getting "stuck in the system" and unable to "overcome the vast level of red tape clogging up the social welfare system".

Ms Ciara McGrath, information worker with Centrecare, instanced one case where a woman had her One-Parent Family Payment (OPFP) stopped, and then also her rent allowance, which eventually left her homeless. "On investigation by Centrecare it materialised that the payment was stopped by social welfare because she had failed to produce one piece of documentation. After several attempts to negotiate the maze of social welfare bureaucracy, it was discovered that she had sent the documentation to social welfare's child benefit section, who in turn were to forward it to the OPFP. This they failed to do. So she became homeless."

Ms Fleming said most of the work done by Centrecare concerned people in crisis "trying to negotiate Government red tape. It's a fact that people who have financial, accommodation and other problems need intensive support to access their entitlements and appropriate services."

The charity's annual report shows the number of its clients increased to 3,897 last year. Most were dealt with at its city-centre drop-in service, though there were also telephone contacts (513) and outreach contacts (673).

As in 2003 the majority (74 per cent) of its clients were homeless, though the majority (59 per cent) of queries related to issues other than accommodation. This demonstrated, said Ms Fleming, that the information needs of homeless people were far broader than simply matters of accommodation.