Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton.

The Department is committed to ensuring claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, especially in the case of illness related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested payments may also require more detailed investigation and interaction with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision process. As part of the Department's programme of service delivery modernisation, a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented in recent years. For example, all State pension contributory and non-contributory claims are now processed, decided and maintained on the new processing system. New claims for carer's and disability allowance are also decided on the new processing system, with existing claims due to transfer to the new system in quarters two and four of this year, respectively. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed to ensure processing capability is maximised.

The staffing needs of the Department are regularly reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising to ensure the best use is made of all available resources. The Department will continue to source available staff to fill critical vacancies by way of redeployment or transfer from within the Department and other Departments, taking account of the employment control framework target as determined by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Since May 2008, some 990 staff have been assigned to the Department to fill critical vacancies and additional posts allocated to deal with the increased volume of claims. Taking into account the numbers of staff who have left the Department and the numbers of vacancies, a net total of 226 additional staff has been assigned to the Department. The Department also makes judicious use of overtime and employs temporary staff as appropriate to address particular service issues as they arise.

Regarding the Social Welfare Appeals Office, I am advised that based on figures for the first quarter of this year the average waiting time for appeals dealt with by summary decisions was 22.4 weeks, and 40.9 weeks for those that required an oral hearing. The comparable times for last year were 25 weeks and 52.5 weeks, respectively. These processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation. They include all activities during this period including time spent in the Department for comments by the deciding officer on the grounds of appeal put forward by the appellant and any further investigation, examination or assessment by the Department's inspectors and medical assessors that is deemed necessary. A considerable period of time is added to the process when an oral hearing is required because of the logistics involved in this process. The considered processing of appeals must take an appropriate amount of time and cannot be unduly rushed due to the quasi-judicial nature of the work.

In an effort to reduce the processing times, the Department appointed 12 additional appeals officers between 2010 and 2011. In addition, a further ten appeals officers formerly employed by the Community Welfare Service, 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 to that, the office has improved its business processes and IT support.

I am assured by the chief appeals officer that she is keeping the methods of operation by which the Social Welfare Appeals Office conducts its business under constant review and that the processes are continually being enhanced to reduce the backlogs in the office and, overall, to reduce the processing times for dealing with appeals. The Minister is satisfied that progress is being made. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

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