Processing time for submitted earnings-related unemployment allowance applications shortened

We are publishing the Unemployment Fund’s application and processing numbers weekly.

The coronavirus pandemic has sharply increased the number of applications to PAM’s Unemployment Fund. The number of incoming applications in March and April is higher than the whole of last year: between 1 March and 27 April a total of 22,478 first applications were received. For comparison, in 2019 there were 18,268 first applications, making an average of 1522 a month.   

During last week, the Unemployment Fund received 2135 first applications. A first application is an application where earnings-related unemployment allowance is claimed for the first time or after a break of over 6 months.

During the week the Unemployment Fund processed 3859 first applications. Last week, first applications, which had arrived after the middle of April, were processed. The processing time for applications had dropped to 26 from 37 in a week. There were also 6070 calls to the fund’s helplines, and staff were able to answer 1045 of these.

PAM’s Unemployment Fund has taken a number of steps to deal with the sharp increase in applications. Application processing capacity has been increased e.g. by reorganising work internally and speeding up work processes.  The Unemployment Fund has also recruited new employees. Some union employees have also transferred to the fund to help out with the workload.

Each week we publish the number of applications received and processed the previous week. We also give the number of answered telephone calls from members and the current application processing time. We are collecting this data in one place to make it easier to see how the situation is progressing. Check here for more information.