Laois unemployment assistance claim delay
The applicant’s assessed means from land he let exceeded the limit, but an appeal was pending further inquiries into related expenses. The claim dated 12 October 1982 had taken an unacceptable time to process; the Minister said he would look into it and agreed it should not be unduly delayed.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason a person (details supplied) in County Laois is not being paid unemployment or home assistance as he has no work or any form of income and as he applied for unemployment assistance 16 weeks ago; and the action he now proposes to take to arrange for immediate payment in this case.
Comment on this
The person concerned is not entitled to unemployment assistance as the means assessed against him, £38.00 weekly, exceed the maximum rate payable to him. Means in his case are derived from his share in land which is let.
He appealed against the assessment of means and his case was referred to an appeals officer for determination. Before making his decision the appeals officer requested that further inquiries be made as to possible expenses in connection with the letting of the land and when the inquiries are completed his entitlement to unemployment assistance will be reviewed in the light of the appeals officer's decision.
The person concerned would not be eligible for supplementary welfare allowance, which is now payable instead of home assistance, as the means applicable to his unemployment assistance claim would also affect his entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance.
Comment on this
Could the Minister give the date on which the application for unemployment assistance was made?
Comment on this
Could the Minister give the reason for the delay in processing the claim and could he make some comment on the length of time it has taken to process this?
Comment on this
Would the Minister agree that it is totally unacceptable that somebody who applied for unemployment assistance on 12 October 1982 has not had his claim processed to date? If this were an isolated case one would accept it, but I am sure that it is not.
Comment on this
We are talking about land and land held in trust and there may be a problem connected with it. I will have the matter looked into, but there should not be any undue delay. However, there are problems because of the numbers on unemployment assistance and every one of these applications must be examined. However, it should not take as long as in this case.
12.