Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of decisions to refuse carer's allowance that are overturned at appeal stage; the action being taken to ensure that the correct decision is made at the initial stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28009/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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In 2009, 16,574 new claims for carer's allowance were received. Of those, 10, 798 (or just over 65%) were awarded and 5776 (or just under 35%) were rejected. In 2010 to date, 8,959 new carer's allowance claims have been received of which 5,806 (almost 65%) have been awarded and 3,153 (just over 35%) rejected.

Accurate statistics relating specifically to the outcome of appeals against refusals of carer's allowance are not kept. However, I have made available to the House, labelled Appendix 1, a table containing an extract from the Annual Report of the Social Welfare Appeals Office 2009, Statistical Trends – Table 3: Outcome of appeals by category 2009. This table details, in respect of carer's allowance, the number of appeal cases dealt with in 2009 that were allowed, partly allowed, revised by deciding officer before appeal, disallowed and withdrawn. It refers to appeals against all types of decisions on carer's allowance and it should be noted that it refers to carer's allowance appeals dealt with by the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) during 2009. The full table and further details regarding the work of the SWAO is available on their website www.socialwelfareappeals.ie .

Deciding officers working in the department, including those dealing with the carer's schemes, make their decisions in line with the legislation governing the scheme and relevant guidelines and procedures. They receive training for the work they undertake. Their work is checked for accuracy by supervisory staff and all means decisions are checked by a supervisor. When an appeal is received, any new evidence supplied as part of the appeal is re-examined by a deciding officer who, if considered appropriate, will revise his/her decision. As you will see from the table in Appendix 1, in 2009 these re-examinations, in the light of new information supplied, resulted in a revised decision in 388 carer's allowance cases.

Where a revised decision is not considered appropriate, these cases are checked by a different deciding officer to confirm that the original decision was in accordance with the legislation and, then, forwarded to the SWAO for processing.

The Decisions Advisory Office (DAO) of the department has responsibility for ensuring that decisions made on social welfare claims are consistent and of good quality and that customers are notified of decisions in a form which is clear and understandable. They provide advice and guidance to deciding officers as required.

In the interests of consistency and good practice in decision making, regular meetings are held between the SWAO and the DAO. These meeting are a means of providing feedback from the SWAO to the department, and vice versa, as regards issues arising in the course of appeal cases. Appendix 1

Extract from Social Welfare Appeals Office Annual Report 2009 - Table 3: Outcome of appeals by category 2009

* This includes Carer's Allowance and Carers Benefit