Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The social welfare appeals office is an office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The office is administered by the chief appeals officer. The chief appeals officer and her team of appeals officers are independent in their decision-making functions. As Minister, I need to be conscious of the independence of the office, its functions and the decisions it makes.

Deciding officers and appeals officers are required to apply the law on a case-by-case basis. All statutory decisions are bound by the relevant provisions of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 and associated regulations. The legislation provides for a transparent and fair decision-making process in conjunction with the control of social welfare schemes. Every claimant is entitled to have his or her claim considered in the context of determinations of entitlement under the relevant social welfare legislation and in accordance with the principles of natural justice. Test or sample cases are not relied upon when making decisions relating to entitlements to social welfare payments.

I am informed by the chief appeals officer that the social welfare appeals office does not rely on test cases to determine the employment status of all workers in a sector. Every individual making an appeal always has the opportunity of having any evidence in his or her own case presented to and considered by an appeals officer.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has examined the Department’s approach to the determination of employment or self-employment on several occasions in recent years, most recently in 2022. This examination included reviews of cases which it selected at random. It was found that cases were determined on their own merits through the application of the criteria set out in the code of practice on determining employment status.

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