THE GOVERNMENT is seeking additional accommodation for 13 social welfare offices in order to cope with the massive increase in numbers signing on the live register.
Many local social welfare offices need extra room to house additional staff and sharp increases in the numbers of claimants, according to officials. Among the welfare offices in need of new accommodation are Balbriggan, Ballina, Bantry, Castlebar, Cavan, Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Killarney, Loughrea, Mallow, Newbridge, and Swords.
The numbers signing on the live register over the past year has increased by 165,000, a rise of 87 per cent, placing welfare offices under unprecedented strain.
The Office of Public Works has been asked to find new accommodation for local offices in some areas, while the Department of Social Welfare is setting up “central decision units” around the country to ease the burden on offices under pressure. Four of these units are being set up in Dublin city centre, Sligo, Finglas and Carrick-on-Shannon. Each unit will have 10 staff and the department expects that all of these staff will be in place within the next few weeks.
In addition, work has started on setting another unit in Roscommon which will be up and running in a number of months.
When they are fully staffed and trained it is expected the units will process some 10,500 claims per month, depending on the complexity involved in each claim.
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said a total of 246 additional staff have been allocated since May.
However, there are still lengthy delays at some offices. Figures released to Labour TD Róisín Shortall last week show the average processing time for the jobseeker’s allowance is more than three months in some parts of the country.
She also pointed out that the worst delays are at social welfare branch offices – typically based in smaller towns – which are run by private individuals who are contracted by the department. As a result, it was not clear how many, if any, extra staff have been employed by branch managers.
In a fresh effort to tackle delays, Ms Hanafin said a number of changes have been made to the way unemployment benefit claims are process.
