THE EMERGENCY welfare system is being pushed to breaking point because authorities are not increasing staffing levels to cope with a dramatic rise in welfare claims, union officials claimed yesterday.
The number of requests for assistance from the community welfare service for basic welfare payments has jumped by up to 85 per cent over the past two years, official figures show.
Yet, the number of staff has remained unchanged over this period due to a recruitment embargo across the health service, according to community welfare officers.
In addition, officers say they are working through lunch breaks and during unpaid overtime to try to cope with heavy workloads.
While Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin recently announced plans to provide an extra 200 posts in social welfare offices, no additional community welfare officers – who are employed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) – will be appointed.
Speaking at a press conference , Kevin Figgis, Siptu’s health professionals’ branch organiser, said hundreds of additional community welfare officers were needed to meet the rising level of demand.
“The length of queues, the sheer numbers seeking help is pushing the service to breaking point,” he said. “The situation is already deteriorating. With commentators predicting that up to 500,000 will be on the Live Register by the end of the year, community welfare services are in danger of collapsing because there aren’t sufficient staff to meet the demands being placed on it.”
There are about 750 community welfare officers and 300 supervisors employed by the HSE in about 1,000 locations across the State.
Ms Hanafin has said the appointment of some 200 extra staff in social welfare offices around the State would help to take much of the pressure off the community welfare service.
However, Mr Figgis said these staff have not yet been appointed and that the HSE’s recruitment embargo meant there was little chance of the pressure being lifted from community welfare officers.
“The embargo is a crude instrument that leaves our members attempting to perform the impossible for increasingly desperate clients,” he said.
“In some regions, cutbacks on budgets, such as a 14.5 per cent reduction in mileage in Kerry, further reduces our members’ mobility and access to clients.
“This is happening when we are dealing with families and individuals who often do not know how they will pay for food, heat or light, let alone the rent or mortgage.”
Mr Figgis said the community welfare services have traditionally played a vital role in communities, yet the staffing levels were frozen at 2007 levels.
Siptu has called for community welfare services to be “fully resourced” to meet the crisis.
“We need an exemption from the employment embargo with additional staff fast-tracked into critical areas.
“Unless we receive extra resources, as a matter of urgency, many avoidable personal tragedies will occur.
“It is the least the Government must do to mitigate a crisis for which it is primarily responsible,” Mr Figgis said.