Hanafin says 22-week jobseekers wait in Edenderry unacceptable

Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has this week branded the 22-week wait for jobseekers claims at Edenderry Branch Office as unacceptable, and has called on the CPSU to resolve industrial relations issues relating to the processing of claims. It emerged that the Edenderry Branch Office is contracted out to a branch manager, rather than being run by civil servants, and all claims processed through the branch office must be sent to a local Social Welfare office for a decision. Minister Hanafin said two industrial relation issues had been resolved recently and an issue with the CPSU (Civil and Public Service Union) affecting the processing of claims taken in branch offices around the country was due to be considered by arbitration shortly. "An agreement with Branch Office Managers that they would decide certain categories of straightforward jobseeker's claims, rather than delaying the process by having to send them to Social Welfare Local Offices for decision was agreed as far back as March 2008, as part of the Department's Modernisation Action Plan. The initiative was similarly agreed with the CPSU. The Union subsequently refused to implement the initiative. They claimed that this would be outsourcing of the civil servants' work, as Branch Offices are not staffed by civil servants, rather they are run by branch managers operating them under a contract for service. It would be in the interests of all of our customers and of staff that this issue be resolved as quickly as possible," said the Minister. She said an additional inspector had been allocated to the Edenderry Branch Office to deal with the means testing of jobseekers' claims from this office and hundreds of outstanding claims were also being sent to one of the newly established new Local Office Support Units in an effort to get the claims processed. Fine Gael Deputy for Laois/Offaly Charlie Flanagan has called on unions and management to resolve their difficulties without causing further pain to struggling families. He said: "A 22 week delay in receiving jobseeker's allowance when a person has bills to pay urgently is staggering. There seems to be no account taken by the people behind these delays of the pressures of mortgages, electricity bills, phone bills and huge back-to-school and college costs." Deputy Flanagan said losing a job was traumatic in itself, but to be deprived of jobseeker's allowance to help pay the bills for almost six months afterwards was inexcusable. "Jobseekers in Edenderry have been subject to the longest waiting periods for jobseeker's allowance in the country. The delay has escalated from thirteen and a half weeks in March to 22 this month. One business after another has folded in Laois/Offaly in recent times resulting in unemployment more than doubling in the Edenderry area in the space of a year," he said. "I am calling on management and unions to resolve their difficulties in a way that will not hurt the unemployed. I would have expected the trade union to have more empathy with jobseekers and I believe the current situation is a national disgrace and one that must be resolved as a matter of great urgency," said Deputy Flanagan.