Jobless rise leaves some with 11-week dole wait
WORKERS at risk of losing their jobs now face a double whammy of unemployment and a wait of up to 11 weeks for social welfare payments.
The soaring level of unemployment has put huge pressure on social welfare offices, with a backlog now building.
Figures obtained by the Irish Independent show there were an average of 7,560 new signings on the Live Register each week during the first six months of this year. However, just 5,620 "signed off" each week, leaving almost 2,000 new applications each week.
Last night, Olwyn Enright, Fine Gael's spokeswoman on Social and Family Affairs, said people coming to her office were worried they would not be able to meet their mortgage repayments after one, or even both, wage earners lost their jobs.
The average processing time for jobseekers' benefit -- which is for those who are fully or partly unemployed and actively seeking work -- is 2.2 weeks. However, one out of every 10 claimants had to wait over five weeks.
But for jobseekers' allowance -- which is means tested and requires more paper work -- the wait is almost four weeks per applicant, with one in 10 forced to wait more than 11 weeks for their claim to be processed.
Ms Enright said that in her local office, in Tullamore, the staff deal with an average of 1,000 applications for various supplements each week -- but this has now soared to 2,400.
"The real problem is the trap the delays push people into. The four to six week wait means they often can't pay their bills during that time and they fall into a bad financial pattern," she said.
"People are coming to me because they're concerned that they won't be able to pay their mortgage."
Labour's spokeswoman on welfare, Senator Phil Prendergast, used the example of one woman who had to wait over five months to receive family-income supplement.
"People are kind of desperate when they contact me now. They are fretting that there will be delays in getting the money and fretting that there will be cutbacks and their benefits will be cut."
She said they are advising a growing number of people to go to the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) for advice on how to manage and repay their debts.
Crisis
"This crisis in happening right now and there is no question that the government should not be on an 11-week break."
"People need help now and they need the government working now."
The Department of Social and Family Affairs said that each individual office can be affected by a variety of issues, including staff holidays, sick leave and the number of claims to be processed.
"Processing time for claims such as jobseekers' allowance, which is means tested, can take a longer period of time, while documents are required to be returned or social welfare inspectors need access to the claim to process the application," a spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, MABS has recorded a rise in the numbers seeking their help.
New figures show that, between January and June 2007, MABS offices nationwide catered for 6,253 new clients.
However, in the same period during this year, the number of new clients sinking into debt has soared by almost 2,000 to 8,115.
- Edel Kennedy
