Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The number of appeals received in the social welfare appeals office from 2008 until the end of March 2012 and the average waiting times in each of these years is set out in the following table. As can be seen from these figures, there has been a very significant increase in the number of social welfare appeals year on year from 2008 to 2011, with the number of appeals received in 2011 being almost double the number received in 2008.

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 Services 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. The office has also improved its business processes and IT support.

As a result of these changes, the number of finalised cases increased from 15,724 in 2008 to 34,027 in 2011. I am sure Deputies will appreciate this represents an enormous increase in the volume of appeals being dealt with. I am advised by the social welfare appeals office that, based on figures for the first quarter of 2012, the average waiting time for appeals dealt with by summary decisions was 22.4 weeks and 40.9 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. The comparable times for all of 2011 were 25 weeks and 52.5 weeks, respectively.

As a result of these changes, the number of finalised cases increased from 15,724 in 2008 to 34,027 in 2011. I am sure Deputies will appreciate this represents an enormous increase in the volume of appeals being dealt with. I am advised by the social welfare appeals office that, based on figures for the first quarter of 2012, the average waiting time for appeals dealt with by summary decisions was 22.4 weeks and 40.9 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. The comparable times for all of 2011 were 25 weeks and 52.5 weeks, respectively.

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