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Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs - Case Summaries 1998

Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs - Case Summaries 1998

18 March 1999

In 1998 the Ombudsman received 786 valid complaints against the Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs (DSCFA) which amounted to 56% of the overall complaint figure for Government departments and offices. This figure shows a drop of about 22% by comparison with the volume of complaints against DSCFA in 1997. However, the 1997 complaints figure against DSCFA was exceptionally high and the 1998 figure is well above the average for the three year period prior to 1997. As has been the case in recent years, the volume of complaints against DSCFA is higher than against any other single public body. In addition to the 786 valid complaints received in 1998, there were 278 complaints on hands at the start of the year. This meant there was a total of 1,064 complaints against DSCFA to be dealt with during 1998. Of this 1,064, the Ombudsman completed his examination in the case of 888 complaints. The outcome in relation to the 888 completed cases was: 87 complaints resolved; assistance was provided in 416 cases; 223 cases were not upheld and 162 cases were either withdrawn or discontinued.

In his 1998 Annual Report the Ombudsman highlights the following cases in relation to the Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs:

• Old Age Pension arrears of �7,000 were paid to an elderly man after the Department accepted that delays and confusion in dealing with his claim would not have arisen had it responded to communications from the man's accountant. The man had previously been self-employed and had no experience of making social welfare claims. His accountant, recognising that the man was unable to deal with the matter himself, undertook to apply on his behalf for a social welfare pension. Initially he sought a Survivor's Contributory Pension and when this proved unsuccessful he applied for the Non-Contributory Old Age Pension (NCOAP), which is means-tested. There followed a series of contacts between the Department and the pension applicant. At one point a decision to refuse the pension was given as the applicant had not provided details sought by the Department. Subsequently, when the Department was re-investigating the case, the applicant actually withdrew his claim, apparently out of frustration. Unfortunately, the accountant was not informed of any of this. Given the state of mind of the applicant, his failure to inform the accountant was not surprising. However, there were four letters from the accountant to the Department which had not been answered by the Department. Had they been answered, the accountant would have been able to satisfy the Department as to his client's entitlement. Ultimately, the accountant discovered what had happened and was able to retrieve the situation. The Department decided the applicant could be paid NCOAP from a current date. The accountant felt his client would have got his pension from a date some two years earlier had the Department replied to his correspondence. The Ombudsman agreed with this view and, following discussions with the Department, it agreed to pay the pension from the date of the very first application two years earlier. (P. 12 of the Report)
  
• A young widow was refused the Contributory Widow's Pension because her late husband's total of paid social insurance contributions was found to be one short of the minimum requirement. The Department rechecked the record, at the widow's request, but continued to maintain that it was deficient, amounting to a total of 155 contributions where a minimum of 156 was required. The widow continued to suspect that the Department had not taken account of all her husband's insurable employment and she complained to the Ombudsman. In the course of the Ombudsman's examination, it emerged that the Department had established that its initial record of insurance for the husband was incomplete and that it had identified two additional contributions. This discovery was sufficient to satisfy the requirement to have a minimum record of 156 paid contributions. However, for whatever reason, the Department failed to amend the late husband's insurance record and the pension remained unpaid. When the Ombudsman drew the Department's attention to this mistake it accepted that the widow was entitled to the pension and backdated the award to the date of widowhood. Net arrears of �1,829 were paid (she had been on a lower rate means-tested payment) as well as compensation of �97. The Ombudsman is highlighting this case to emphasise the need for public bodies to be particularly careful where a claimant is found to miss an entitlement by the smallest of margins. (P. 17 of the Report)
  
• Once again, the issue of lost arrears of contributory pensions featured during 1998. People who are late in making claims for contributory pensions - whether for old age, retirement or widowhood - have been losing out on substantial levels of pension arrears over the years. Up to 1997, the maximum arrears being paid in the event of a late claim was for the period of six months prior to the claim. This was the case virtually irrespective of the reason why the claim was made late. This is a complex issue on which the Ombudsman has reported over a number of years, including by way of a specific investigation report published in March 1997. In last year's Annual Report the Ombudsman referred to an improvement in the situation whereby, with effect from 1 January 1997, the first 12 months arrears are paid in full and a proportion of the balance is paid. (The proportion of arrears after the first 12 months is on a reducing, sliding scale starting with 50% for Year 2 and reducing to 10% for Year 6 and subsequent years.) These improved arrangements apply only to cases where the claim was first made after 1 January 1997.
  

In the Budget of December 1998 the Minister for Finance provided a sum of �10m to fund the payment of partial pension arrears to people who had not benefited from the improved arrangements. The Department estimates that more than 4,000 people (including about 80 people whose cases the Ombudsman has been examining) will benefit from this. The level of arrears paid under this arrangement is 50% of that available under the improved arrangements which apply since 1 January 1997. It is fair to say that this development was in response to suggestions which the Ombudsman had been making to the Department for some time. It does not represent an ideal outcome for the people concerned but it does amount to a partial resolution of a very difficult problem. (P. 16 of Report)

The full text of the Annual Report, including the above cases, is available on the Ombudsman's Internet site (http://www.irlgov.ie/ombudsman/)

Enquiries to Fintan Butler at 01-6785222,
e-mail: fintan_butler@ombudsman.irglov.ie