department of social and family affairs annual report 2006 - Welfare.ie

- to introduce a Personal Advocacy Service
for certain people with disabilities, who
would otherwise have difficulty in getting
access to social services.
The Bill, now enacted, provides for matters such
as eligibility for the assignment of a personal
advocate, the arrangements for the administration
of the service and for an independent appeals
process for people with disabilities who are
dissatisfied with the decision in relation to
their eligibility for the assignment of a Personal
Advocate. It is planned that the new Personal
Advocacy Service will be in place early in 2008.
- delivery of services in a more efficient,
flexible and integrated way
- support for new work management
practices and procedures
- delivery of the eGovernment strategy
In 2006 the SDM programme was expanded
to encompass Retirement Pension, Old Age
Contributory Pension (renamed State Pension
(Transition) and State Pension (Contributory)
in 2006), Free Travel and Bereavement Grant.
The programme is being implemented on an
incremental basis and will be extended to cater
for the Household Benefits Package in early 2007.
> Keeping our customers informed
In 2006, nationwide advertising campaigns
were undertaken for the following social welfare
schemes - Family Income Supplement, Carers
(Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit and Respite
Care Grant) and Back to School Clothing and
Footwear Allowance. A significant response was
received to all campaigns.
Following the FIS campaign in March, there was a
70% increase in new claims when compared with
the same period the previous year.
The number of families claiming Back to School
Clothing and Footwear Allowance has increased in
recent years from 70,000 in 2004 to over 84,000
in 2006.
The SDM programme was also extended to Free
Travel and Bereavement Grant schemes in 2006.
There were a number of other developments in
the wider eGovernment agenda during 2006 in
which the Department was centrally involved. The
completion of the first phase of the Public Sector
Broker Project was a significant milestone for
the Reach project, together with the delivery of
the on-line PAYE system in conjunction with the
Revenue Commissioners.
The Department, through its Central Identity
Services, provides a key element of the Reach
service. The Department is also involved in the
development of proposals for a new Public
Service Card under the Standard Authentication
Framework Environment (SAFE) project and this
project was also progressed.
2006 - year in review
> eGovernment
The Service Delivery Modernisation (SDM)
programme is a multi – annual programme
of work involving the introduction of new
technology and the replacement of legacy
computer systems. It also involves the redesign
of back office systems, business processes,
procedures and work practices and the
introduction of new organisational structures.
The key business objectives are to provide-
- a high quality, proactive personalised
service to customers
> Development of new Irish National
Action Plan against Poverty and
Social Exclusion
Considerable progress was made during 2006 on
the development of the new plan to be launched
in early 2007 to cover the period 2007-2016 and
to complement the new National Development
Plan (2007-2013) TRANSFORMING IRELAND A
Better Quality of Life for All. These strategies build
on the life cycle approach outlined in the new
national partnership agreement, Towards 2016, by
assessing the risks which individuals face at each
stage of the lifecycle and the supports they need
to meet these risks. The groups focussed on using
this approach are Children, People of Working
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