Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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8. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she is satisfied with the current appeals process operated by the Social Welfare Appeals Office; if she will reform the process in order to promote efficiency in having appeals decided and reduce appeal waiting times; and if she would consider putting the office on a statutory basis. [10338/14]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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In January, the Minister supplied me with detailed figures on the appeals process. I noted that it is a quasi-judicial process and that she had increased the staff to 41 to address the 38,000 appeals last year. Is there not still grave dissatisfaction with the appeals process? As her predecessor as social welfare spokesperson, I urged that the system be put on a statutory basis and given independence. That is still not the case. The bottom line is that we are still waiting on average six and eight months, respectively, for appeals to be decided, summarily or after an oral hearing. Although improvements have been made since 2011, it is still not acceptable.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Broughan for acknowledging the improvements. Significant improvements have been achieved but I agree that there is still more to be done.

The workload of the appeals office has increased dramatically in recent years. It is the cause of the problem. The number of appeals received annually has increased, from an average of 15,000 up to 2009. Close to 32,800 appeals were received in 2013, down from 35,500 in 2012. The sheer volume of appeals because of the number of those looking to the social welfare system, some of which is as a consequence of the economic collapse, merely means that there are significant extra pressures on the system-----

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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They are the Minister's policies.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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-----which we sought to change.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Some of the others.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Significant effort and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeals process to manage this increased workload while, at the same time, recognising the need to ensure that quality and fairness are not compromised. An additional 15 appeals officers have been assigned to the office over the past three years, bringing the number up to 41. In addition, a new operating model has been introduced.

The measures that we have introduced have achieved significant improvements. The number of appeals cases processed in 2013 increased by 18%, to over 38,400, which is the best outcome for many years since the crisis began. The number of cases on hands at the end of the year declined by 28%, to close to 14,800. Therefore, we are dealing with the backlog. At the same time, the average processing time reduced by 12%.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The Deputy asked if I would consider placing the office on a statutory basis. The appeals system was reformed in 1990 when the Social Welfare Appeals Office was established as a separate and independent executive with its own premises and staff. Appeals are now made directly to that office whereas previously they were made to the Minister. The chief appeals officer is legally obliged to submit an annual report to the Minister which is laid before both houses of the Oireachtas.

Appeals officers are quasi-judicial officers who are required under law to be free and unrestricted in discharging their functions.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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The fact remains that we are talking about an average time of more than six months for a summary decision and eight or nine months for a decision after an oral hearing. I acknowledge that it used to take longer than a year.

To take one of the headings under which the Minister answered me in January, domiciliary care allowance, DCA, for 2012 and 2013, I note that just over half were granted on first application and then, following this lengthy appeal process, the proportion of successful applicants rose to 70% of the total. Does it show a fundamental flaw in the application process that such a significant number of the DCA applications were upheld on appeal? Our colleague, Deputy Nulty, found the same in the case of carer's allowance, which also rose to something approaching 70% from 50% at first instance. Does that identify that there is a fundamental flaw in the kind of information for which applicants are asked at the start and more support should be given to applicants at first stage on documentation and what must be provided? In the Northside Community Law Centre, we have for many years kept an anonymised case base of interesting cases and appeals.

The Minister has started something similar in the Department. Is it not time information was generally available? There is a lack of transparency and the Minister should consider putting it on a statutory basis, but her Fine Gael colleagues will not let her.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Deputy made successful representations to me, on which I congratulate him, to continue departmental funding for the Northside Community Law Centre. I have been in it and met people there on a number of occasions. The work it does on social welfare issues and appeals is very important. We have transformed the way the domiciliary care allowance is handled. After becoming Minister, I brought in the parent organisations to discuss issues in detail and the biggest issue was dealing with children on the autism spectrum. On the advice of parents, we changed the forms and timeframe during which applications and appeals were made. As a consequence, the backlog of new applications has been eliminated. The same is true of carer's allowance. The working system in Longford has been transformed and we also transferred to new IT platforms. This caused an additional delay, but the outcome has been well worthwhile.

I am not sure what could be achieved by putting the system on a statutory basis. The appeals system was reformed in 1990 when the social welfare appeals office was established as a separate and independent executive with its own premises and staff. Appeals are now made directly to the office, where previously they were made to the Minister. The chief appeals officer is legally obliged to submit an annual report and appeals officers are quasi-judicial officers required under law to be free and unrestricted in discharging their functions. Some applications could be much better prepared.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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What people fear is that the appeals process is used as a mechanism to deter them from making applications in the first place and that it is in thrall to wider public economic policy. In the case of the Government, the fact that it has a public policy on social welfare expenditure which the Minister's Fine Gael colleagues insisted on having makes it impossible to have true reform while the Government is in office.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The greatest reform will take place when more people are back at work. An extra 61,000 people were at work at the end of 2013. That is the greatest boost to the economy.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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More people would be at work if we did not have the national debt.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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We are also expanding and spending €280 million on the family income supplement scheme. One of the problems with applications for important and sensitive schemes such as domiciliary care allowance is that the individual applicant does not put forward the best case for a child or carer. People often turn to a public representative who can give good advice on what may be required. The Citizens Information Centre, including the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, also do this and the Department funds them at a cost of almost €47 million. It is very important that, when people make applications for an important and sensitive allowance relating to medical conditions, they are well advised before making the application. In some cases, simple doctor's notes will not result in the application being granted.