Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

I thank Deputy McGrath. I am happy to respond on behalf of the Minister.

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. Appeals officers are independent in their decision-making functions.

The overall average processing time for all appeals at end of March 9025 was 20.9 weeks. The time taken to process an appeal includes all aspects of the appeal process. This includes an initial validation of the appeal to ensure that adequate grounds have been provided, followed by a referral of the appeal back to the relevant scheme area of the Department for review. Where the first instance decision is not revised in favour of the appellant, the appeal is then considered by the appeals officer, which may require the holding of an oral hearing.

A significant proportion of cases are revised by the Department in favour of the appellant during the review process. This does not mean that the initial decision was incorrect. A decision can be revised because the person making an appeal provides additional information which was not made available when the decision was first made. Where new information, in particular medical information, is provided on appeal, this may require further investigation which can add to the time taken to process an appeal. Despite all of this, the overall average processing time for all appeals at the end of March was 20.9 weeks.

Deputy McGrath will be pleased to hear that new appeal regulations, which have come into effect from 28 April 2025, have increased the time a customer has to submit their appeal from 21 to 60 days, with provision for the chief appeals officer to accept late appeals for up to 180 days in certain circumstances. This will allow customers a longer period to prepare their appeal and gather relevant documentation. The new regulations also provide, for the first time, statutory time limits for key stages of the appeals process, including the length of time the scheme area in the Department has to review an appeal. This is now set at 21 days. The new regulations have also introduced the right to seek an oral hearing. These measures are intended to provide greater transparency and certainty to people making appeals and should help to improve the processing times for appeals.

In addition, a new appeals business process and IT system have recently been implemented. The new process and system have significantly reduced the use of paper in the appeals process. The new system provides online capabilities to provide a more efficient and streamlined service for people availing of services.

In tandem with the introduction of the new system, the number of staff processing appeals has increased significantly. As Deputy McGrath alluded to, an additional 20 appeals officers were appointed at the end of last year. These officers are in addition to the team of 44 officers already in place. Following a period of training they are now actively processing appeals. This is a significant increase of 45% in staffing levels and will, in time, reduce processing times. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, has met with the appeals team to discuss the measures to reduce appeals processing times and will continue to engage with officials on a regular basis.

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