Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank Deputy Phelan for raising this important matter. Behind these numbers, there are people being affected by the appeal processing times. Unfortunately since the economic crash there has been an enormous increase in the numbers of appeals in the social welfare system. At the start of the year in 2008 - the year of the crash when things really began to bite - some 5,723 delayed appeals were in the system and the average processing time was time was 22 weeks. From early in 2008 the number of appeals received by that office began to increase dramatically and by 2011 had more than doubled from an average of 15,000 to 32,000.

Let us bear in mind that this has increased from an average of under 6,000 up to 32,000 in a short period. The pressure placed on the office by this rapid increase in workload has resulted in unacceptable delays for our customers.

As Deputy Phelan noted, in an effort to reduce processing times the Department appointed 12 additional appeals officers between 2010 and 2011. One of the first things I did when I became Minister was to sign in significantly more appeals officers. In addition, a further ten appeals officers formerly employed by the community welfare services, CWS, of the Health Service Executive joined the office as part of the integration of the CWS appeals services into the Social Welfare Appeals Office. This brought the total number of appeals officers to 39. In addition, the office has improved its business processes and information technology support.

I am advised that the changes in 2010 and 2011 have dramatically increased the capacity of the office to finalise decisions. The amount of appeals finalised has increased from 13,500 in 2010 to 34,027 in 2011, more than a doubling of the numbers. However, the time taken to build the capacity to deal with the inflows has resulted in a catch-up situation. As the new information technology system has begun to work its way in, there has been a deterioration in processing times while the office clears through the backlog.

Before the current pressures on the office the average processing time was approximately 14 weeks for a summary decision and 31 weeks for an oral hearing. This peaked last year at 25 weeks for a summary hearing and 52.5 weeks for an oral hearing. By February this year the processing time had reduced to 22.4 weeks for summary decisions and 38 weeks for an oral hearing, evidence that the backlog is being progressively reduced and that appeals officers are now working on more current cases. This applies especially to new cases.

By its nature and because it is a quasi-judicial process the processing of appeals takes time. Once an appeal is received there is a statutory requirement for a response to that appeal by a deciding officer which addresses the conditions raised in the appeal. If new evidence is submitted a review of the decision will be undertaken by the Department and this may involve a further medical examination or a re-investigation of the applicant's circumstances. Once the submission is received from the Department if it is considered that there is a need to conduct an oral hearing of the appeal, the process will require the booking of a venue at a location convenient to the appellant, arranging the attendance of witnesses, notifying appellants and handling cancellations.

While figures published in recent days show long delays in individual categories in the processing of appeals, some of these figures may be based on a small sample and delays may be the result of exceptional circumstances in these particular appeals. However, the average processing times for all appeals are being significantly reduced, especially in the case of new appeals going directly into the new and improved information technology system.

Appeals are scheduled and dealt with in strict chronological order. However, as a payment of last resort, appeals in regard to supplementary welfare allowance are given priority status and are dealt with urgently by the office. In these cases, the average time to process summary cases in 2011 was six weeks. This increased to 17 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. I thank Deputy Phelan for raising this matter. I am in constant contact with the chief appeals officer. She is keeping the methods of operation and business under constant review with a view to improving them further.

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