Timeline on full pension anomaly review may be unrealistic – Aindrias Moynihan

Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North West Aindrias Moynihan has questioned the Department of Employment Affairs & Social Protection’s ability to have a review of the pension anomaly completed by September this year.

Recent figures provided to Deputy Moynihan reveal that almost 90,000 people have to be reviewed, and while additional staff have been allocated, it may not be enough to complete all the reviews within the timeline set out by Minister Regina Doherty.

“The latest information I have received reveals that around 90,000 pensioners are having their entitlements reviewed – that’s up from the 67,000 estimate, which was outlined last September. This has resulted in significant delays for pensioners awaiting the outcome of their review. These are people who have already been denied their proper entitlements because of a cruel change brought in by Fine Gael and Labour. They should not be forced to wait to receive what they are entitled to”, said Deputy Moynihan.

“I have previously raised these delays with the Minister and I welcome the fact that she had allocated additional staff to address the backlogs, however I am still concerned that 130 staff may not be able to process the 90,000 reviews by the September timeline.

“I am also reiterating my call for the Minister to issue an updated application form to reduce the current duplication of work for applicants and administration staff. A new form would allow people to include all of the necessary information at the start of the process, rather than waiting for the Department to contact them to review and update their details.

“This would make the process more streamlined and should help to reduce the backlog”, concluded Deputy Moynihan.