Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The social welfare appeals office is a separate executive office with its own premises and staff. It operates independently of the Department and the Minister. The appeals process has a statutory basis in secondary legislation. As appeals officers are quasi-judicial, they are required to be free and unrestricted in discharging their functions. The high level of appeals allowed - 42% in 2011 - is evidence of the independence of the process. Significant resources are being assigned to improve initial decision-making and thereby reduce the number of appeals. A formal two week deciding officer training course was designed and launched in November 2011 for staff working in the areas of jobseekers' claims and decisions. The course includes scheme conditions, legislation, best practice procedures and areas such as natural justice, good decision-making and proper customer service standards. Initial work has started to develop further training for deciding officers in other scheme areas relating to decision-making, reviewing decisions and appeals submissions.

As Deputies are aware, the rapid and sustained increase in the number of appeals since 2009 has placed extraordinary pressure on the social welfare appeals office. Significant resources and efforts have been put into reducing backlogs and improving processing times for appellants. For example, 15 additional appeals officers have been assigned, retired experienced officers were retained for 18 months ending in December 2011, business processes have been improved and a new operating model has been implemented. As a result of these measures, there has been a significant increase in the number of finalised appeals, from an average of 13,500 some years ago to 34,027 in 2011. Processing times were reduced by 10.2 weeks overall in the nine months to September 2012. The oral hearing time is down by 12.5 weeks, while the summary decision time is up by 2.3 weeks.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

I am advised by the chief appeals officer that eight very experienced retired appeals officers were retained from July 2010 until December 2011. Their employment resulted in the front-loading of summary decisions during this period. As a result, during 2010, a total of 11,985 cases, or 69%, were decided on a summary basis as against 5,514, or 31%, which were given following an oral hearing. The corresponding figures for 2011 were 16,569, or 65%, and 8,821, or 35%. To the end of October 2012, some 10,602 cases or 57% had been decided on a summary basis, as against 7,992, or 43%, following an oral hearing. Consistency and transparency in decision-making are crucial for people in accessing their rights. This is addressed by the Department through training and information provided for deciding officers. It is the statutory responsibility of the chief appeals officer to convene meetings of appeals officers for the purposes of ensuring consistency. The Department provides some €10.735 million in funding for a number of agencies involved in providing advocacy and information services for people on their social welfare rights and how to process its systems.

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