Up to 14,000 people have had to wait up to six months to begin receiving their contributory old age pension as a result of problems with a €27 million computer system at the Department of Social and Family Affairs in Sligo, a public sector union has claimed.
The Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) said last night that staff at the Pension Services Office in Sligo would begin limited industrial action next week in protest at what it said was the increased stress for frontline personnel in trying to deliver services as a result of the technical difficulties with the system.
It said almost 400 clerical and staff officers would take part in two-hour protests next Tuesday, May 22nd, and on Monday, May 28th. On Tuesday, May 29th, staff will not answer telephones.
The union said the decision followed repeated warnings over the last year by members "that management failures in tackling a series of technical glitches in the costly new IT framework and operational programmes were causing ever-increasing backlogs in handling new pension claims and some pension maintenance processes".
It said members had lost faith in the ability or will of management to resolve the processing problems or to provide resources to clear the backlog.
CPSU assistant general secretary Derek Mullen said the union was very concerned about the health and safety implications of the stress load on the members involved.
He also claimed the Department of Social and Family Affairs had done everything possible to hide from the public the reality of the problems with the computer system and the implications for pensioners.
"Our members have been coping under severe pressure for over a year to deliver for pensioners without any assistance from the management team which created the €27 million IT white elephant," he said.
Mr Mullen called for the private sector IT providers responsible for the new system to tackle the problems without delay and in the interim for additional staff resources to be made available to deal with the backlog "within weeks rather than months".
The Department of Social and Family Affairs said that backlogs had occurred in relation to the processing of claims for State pension transition and contributory State pension. However, it denied that the numbers affected were as high as claimed by the union.
"There are presently 6,300 cases awaiting processing who have reached entitlement date. The breakdown of these cases is as follows: 2,800 domestic and 3,500 foreign. A number of factors have contributed to this backlog, including seasonal increase in claim volumes, staff movement, the introduction of a new system and staff familiarisation," it said.
The department said a temporary team of 40 additional staff had been put in place and it expected to clear the backlog by the end of August.
