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Press Release - 30 April 1997

Press Release - 30 April 1997

The Ombudsman, Kevin Murphy, has today published his investigation report on the non-payment of arrears of contributory pensions where people are late in making their claims to the Department of Social Welfare.

The Ombudsman's Office has been receiving complaints on this issue since it was established in 1984. Many of these complainants suffered considerable financial losses because they were late in claiming. They felt that the penalty of loss of pension arrears was out of all proportion to whatever difficulty their delay might have caused the Department. Kevin Murphy and his predecessor, Michael Mills, argued on several occasions in their Annual Reports that the regulations (which have been in force since 1952) should be changed - but without success. Last year, Kevin Murphy decided to undertake a formal investigation into three test cases.

The Ombudsman is pleased to report that his specific recommendations in these three cases have now being accepted by the Department of Social Welfare. Pension arrears of �33,000, �2,200 and �1,230 have been paid to the respective complainants.

Furthermore, the Ombudsman's general recommendations governing the operation of the payments regulations have been accepted by the Department and a new provision has been inserted into the Social Welfare Act, 1997. This will give the Department greater flexibility in dealing with late claims and will ensure fairer treatment for claimants in the future.

This is the first time an Ombudsman's investigation report has been published in full. The Ombudsman has done so because of the important issues analysed in the report and in order to improve public awareness of the detailed and painstaking research required in a formal investigation.

A summary of the report is attached. Copies of the full report are available on request and on the internet (at http://www.irlgov.ie/ombudsman). For a fuller briefing on this report, please contact either Michael Brophy or Fintan Butler at 01-6785222.