Missing pension payment and postal delays
The missing payment has now been made after the Department checked whether the pay order had been cashed. Mr. Allen raised wider delays in investigating such complaints, and Dr. Woods said the Departments normally address the problem; his response continues beyond the extract.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason a person (details supplied) in Cork has not received payment in respect of a payment slip dated 12 February 1982 that was missing from her pension book.
Comment on this
Payment has now been made to the person concerned in respect of the missing pay order. The delay in payment arose because inquiries were being made from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs with a view to establishing whether or not the missing order had been cashed.
Comment on this
I did not put down this question to get information about one person only. Is the Minister aware that there is a major problem in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in the processing of these types of complaints? I have been told that there are delays of between five and six months. Will the Minister have discussions with the Department of Posts and Telegraphs with a view to eliminating this unnecessary stress which is caused to people such as old age pensioners in particular?
Comment on this
We do that normally. We have done in this case. We have stressed the general problem which arises. Previously I did something about delays in the delivery of non-contributory old age pensions to farmers whose land had been transferred. All the practical details had been gone through, but the legal stamping did not come through for 18 months or two years and there were long delays. I recognised that, if there was agreement, in 99.9 per cent of the cases nothing would be lost to the State by changing the procedure, which we did at the time.
If a disability benefit cheque was lost or stolen, the person had to wait until the Fraud Squad investigated it. I introduced a scheme whereby the person could sign a document saying he had not received it and that to his knowledge no one in his house had received it, and on that basis the person could be paid after a week. That has worked satisfactorily. That is the way I intend to approach this matter — to arrange that the same kind of procedure would apply where there was a loss in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs or the Department of Social Welfare. I think that would meet the Deputy's requirements.