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'Unacceptable': Minister told Illness Benefit delays means some people have no money to buy food

Howlin said calls to the Social Protection helpline have been going unanswered.

TÁNAISTE SIMON COVENEY has said no customer impacted by the delay in Illness Benefit payments will lose out. 

For a second day in a row, a minister faced questions during Leaders’ Questions about the delay or cessation of customer payments since the new automated system for Illness Benefit came in.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney said the Department of Social Protection is working to resolve the issues, and Minister Regina Doherty has sought a detailed report on how the changeover was communicated to both customers and GPs. 

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said people are being left for weeks with no payment and being referred to the community welfare service (CWS), which operates means tested payments, meaning many people who are sick or in recovery from operations are being left without an income.

“Just this morning in Wexford my office spoke with a woman who is awaiting an operation and who has no money to buy food. People have been given minimal payments instead of their full entitlement, with one case of a person being offered just €33 for two weeks. In another case, a women had to wait over 9 weeks for payment,” he said. 

Christmas savings

TheJournal.ie has also spoken to a number of people impacted by the payments problem, with some stating that the have been forced to dip into their Christmas funds due to the delays. 

In addition, Howlin said calls to the Social Protection helpline have been going unanswered. 

“The whole situation needs urgent action. I understand that there are IT difficulties that led to delays processing forms that GPs send in to certify people as still unfit for work, but the Department has been very slow to respond,” he told Coveney today. 

“The bottom line is that people who are off work due to illness or injury are not receiving their social insurance entitlement to an Illness Benefit payment and this is leaving many people in a very difficult situation, while some long-standing recipients of Illness Benefit have had their payments suddenly stopped,” added Howlin. 

Apology

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has apologised for the payment difficulties arising from the changeover to a new IT system and for the lack of communication which added to these issues.

Coveney told the Dáil today that the department has acknowledged that the issues have led to a large volume of calls to its helpline, which has resulted in long delays from the department in responding to calls.

The Tánaiste told TDs that in order to address this, the department is now taking urgent action to deploy additional staff to manage customer calls.

The Labour leader said he was unhappy with the minister’s response today, stating that they still don’t know when the issues will be resolved. 

The department has said to ensure prompt payment they are advising customers to submit their claim on the new IB1/MED1 forms to the department directly at the following Freepost address: Social Welfare Services, P.O. Box 1650, Dublin 1.

Customers who have financial concerns arising from the move to the new system can apply to the Department’s Community Welfare Services to receive an interim payment.

Customers who have any further queries with regard to their payments, should call 01 – 7043300 or 1890 928 400 or email illnessbenefit@welfare.ie. 

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24 Comments
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    Mute Honeybee
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    Oct 18th 2018, 3:23 PM

    So if you are hungry right now , you should sit down and write to social services or hold on the phone indefinitely in the hope of getting through or in desperation contact a community welfare service officer , fine for Simon Coveney to say no one will lose out but hunger today is hunger today, surely they anticipated this change over in advance would result in this fiasco.

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    Mute Genius 80s+
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    Oct 18th 2018, 4:44 PM

    @Honeybee: this is done from time to time as an experiment by this government to see where the payments kick back is,like car payment, bank loans, it’s not a mistake

    36
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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Oct 18th 2018, 4:53 PM

    @Genius 80s+: what do you mean?

    16
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    Mute TractorPat
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    Oct 18th 2018, 5:56 PM

    @Genius 80s+: What?

    5
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    Mute Patrick Kearns
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    Oct 18th 2018, 6:19 PM

    @Genius 80s+: Never attribute to Machiavellian conspiracy what can adequately be explained by pure stupid incompetence.

    18
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    Mute David Daly
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    Oct 18th 2018, 3:21 PM

    I suppose making sure the system works before implementing it is out of the question. Sure it’s only a couple of sick people anyway

    118
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    Mute JC
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    Oct 18th 2018, 3:54 PM

    “The Tánaiste told TDs that in order to address this, the department is now taking urgent action to deploy additional staff to manage customer calls.”

    – *translation* –
    the Department are recruiting temporary clerical officers to help clear the backlog of certs that have been mounting up for weeks due to: the system not working, the GPs refusing to use the new forms and staff receiving absolutely no training on the new system. The staff manning the phones (who could actually be doing the work to clear the backlog), are firefighting with customer queries making backlogs worse. The management are ignoring the training issues and covering their arses and have completely ignored the staffs pleas for proper training and help, resulting in abuse from customer, stress and no doubt, soon their own sick leave.

    Another case of decisions being made at a top level with no understanding or respect of what work needs to be done and making ill advised promises for projects to be delivered on time.

    144
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    Mute Dave Walsh
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    Oct 18th 2018, 4:42 PM

    @JC: the Oirish way of doing business in a nutshell.

    37
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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Oct 18th 2018, 3:20 PM

    Arseho!es

    99
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    Mute Rb1kan
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    Oct 18th 2018, 5:19 PM

    I had to laugh at the line about SP Minister asking for a report on the implementation of the new system. Surely its her responsibility to sign off on changing the system in the first place. This new system literally changed overnight and they’re surprised no one knows whats going on. They should have tested it out first in one area, trained the staff on the new system and then roll it out nationwide. Nobody was written to who is receiving IB. One month I was filling out one form and the next a different one without so much as a letter from DoSP about the change. And then the payment issues started…..an absolute omnishambles is what it is.

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    Mute John Murray
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    Oct 18th 2018, 3:24 PM

    Fantastic news, so I’ll be checking my account every 5 mins for the next week?!

    54
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    Mute Elizabeth Thewiz
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    Oct 18th 2018, 3:40 PM

    Sums up the total incompetence of this government department. Don’t hold your breath this is how the homeless issue started god only knows where we will be in several years down the line !!

    95
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    Mute Ciaran Fairley
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    Oct 18th 2018, 4:31 PM

    “HELPLINE” They don’t have a f***king helpline. It’s NEVER ANSWERED. Helpline implies that it helps people. This one is completely ignored. Another example of pure incompetence!!!! Someone should be fired for this. Try doing something like the in the private sector and see how long you last.

    134
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    Mute John Ryan
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    Oct 18th 2018, 6:04 PM

    @Ciaran Fairley: Let me guess…it sticks you on hold eating your credit until you go away ?

    59
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    Mute Ciaran Fairley
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    Oct 18th 2018, 7:31 PM

    @John Ryan: Eating away at your sanity and will to live more like it. SO frustrating. What a complete waste of my time it was.

    33
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    Mute Dave Walsh
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    Oct 18th 2018, 3:20 PM

    This lot couldn’t run a piss up in a brewery.

    105
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    Mute Patrick Kearns
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    Oct 18th 2018, 6:16 PM

    @Dave Walsh: This is why they have a bar in the Dáil and no doubt what comes of running the country when they’re over the legal limit to drive a car.

    They won’t legalise cannabis but are happy to make decisions in regards to our lives with a few jars on.

    29
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    Mute Hazel O'Reilly
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    Oct 18th 2018, 5:14 PM

    What complete and utter rubbish. Said helpline has nobody answering it. Ince you ring you are put on hold so you are charged for the call. One phone call cost me €11.52 which was eventually answered at 1 hour 06 minutes! After 10 weeks of nothing I then get a letter saying they are reviewing my claim. Why should anybody work if this is how you are treated. My tax paid entitles me to get sick pay. My doctors notes confirm I am sick. This country is an absolute joke. Single parent of 4 children who tried her best to work and this is what I got? Well done I am now an unemployed single parent of 4 children

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    Mute Grazyna Darowna
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    Oct 18th 2018, 5:15 PM

    Stop all time and money consuming procedures. Just introduce basic incomes, no more politicians army of officers and so on

    19
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    Mute Patrick Kearns
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    Oct 18th 2018, 6:27 PM

    @Grazyna Darowna: That would involve foresight and actual thinking, something not many of our politicians are capable of. It’s the usual case of a job for the boys going wrong and them react with all the speed of a sloth with cerebral palsy. If you whack FF/FG on the knee, it’ll take them a year to kick. Unless it effects their own bank accounts of course.

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    Mute Mark Plunkett
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    Oct 18th 2018, 4:30 PM

    More incompetence from these bunch of idiots,billions of euro spent paying wages to prop up these public servants,who simply don’t serve the public,suppose the managers will just say it’s not my fault and that will be that,transparency me b@llicks.

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    Mute Pat Patovic
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    Oct 18th 2018, 11:44 PM

    The horror of having to touch your Christmass fund to buy yourself a breakfast is unimaginable.

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    Mute Jeanette Hugo Byrne
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    Oct 20th 2018, 12:51 PM

    They still throw in the bit of blame on some GP’s for still using the old forms but I have not heard of anybody on the new forms who’s payments have been without hick-ups….Waiting 8 weeks now and no payment yet and we used the new forms from the work go. The embarrassment and torture of standing in a que (on crutches) at the Community Welfare Officer like a beggar when you’ve been working all your life, is a very hard pill to swallow……At least our direct letters to the minister and complaints to the IMO seems to have made the media pay attention to the problem again…..I doubt this will be resolved within the week though……

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    Mute dublincomments
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    Oct 18th 2018, 11:22 PM

    The pubs will be losing out

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