12 weeks to get on dole as staff struggle to cope

STAFF in social welfare offices are struggling to cope with the increased rate of unemployment, leaving dole claimants waiting 12 weeks to have their claims processed.

That is according to the Civil and Public Services Union (CPSU) which has demanded the Department of Social and Family Affairs increase staffing levels in the offices.

It said there are now 38,000 job seekers’ benefit and allowance claims pending around the country, which can take up to 12 weeks to process.

“This is unacceptable for customers facing the harsh reality of the unemployment queue, many of whom will have no source of income,” the union said.

CPSU members balloted earlier this year for industrial action over the need for additional staff.

“While management indicated that they were employing an additional 31 staff members countrywide, the union took the view that this was a drop in the ocean compared with the pressure our members are facing,” said Derek Mullen, CPSU assistant general secretary.

The union has also called on the department to pay the staff an increase due to them since September which, it said, had been “stopped for very spurious reasons”.

“While members have voted in favour of industrial action on the staffing issue, they have not acted on this because of their loyalty to customers,” said Mr Mullen.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs last night said it had put a range of measures in place at local level to deal with the increasing workload as result of the increase in the live register.

“These include additional posts being allocated to local offices, a limited extension of contracts for temporary staff in certain offices, overtime sanction and prioritisation of work at a local level to deal with claim processing. These measures are being reviewed on a continuous basis.

“With regard to the pay increase that was not sanctioned for Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU) grades from September 1, payment of this increase was conditional on progress on the actions agreed under the Modernisation Action Plan.

“The Department is meeting with the CPSU this week specifically in relation to the non-payment of the increase due from September and the circumstances relating thereto.”

The 38,000 people waiting for their dole claims to be processed are already included in official unemployment statistics, the Department of Social Affairs said yesterday.

However, it was incorrectly stated in yesterday’s Irish Examiner that the scale of unemployment could be worse than the live register indicated last month because these 37,923 outstanding claims were not included on the register.

In fact, the live register figures published each month includes all claims awaiting decision, as well as those already processed.