Refusal to process dole claims ‘another example of inefficiency’

MANAGEMENT at one of the country’s 62 non-civil servant run social welfare branch offices have described a refusal by the public sector to allow them to process new dole claims as “just another example of the gross inefficiency”.

Staff at one of the branch offices estimate they could have claims authorised for claimants within 10 days if the civil service unions would allow them to become deciding officers.

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner revealed during the week that newly unemployed people in some parts of the country will have to wait until the New Year to have their dole applications processed. The longest wait for the means-tested jobseekers’ allowance is in Edenderry, Co Offaly, where processing times average more than 22 weeks.