Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 42: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of cases for carer's allowance currently on appeal and awaiting decision whether by way of oral hearing or otherwise; the average time for cases on appeal to be dealt with; when it is expected that the backlog will be cleared; if further staff resources are required; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15320/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there are currently 2,395 carer's allowance cases on appeal and awaiting decision. The average waiting time for carer's allowance appeals dealt with by way of a summary decision in 2010 was 26.9 weeks, while the average time to process an oral hearing was 47.3 weeks. These processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation and include all activities during this period including time spent in the Department for comments by the deciding officer on the grounds of appeal put forward by the appellant and any further investigation, examination or assessment by the Department's inspectors and medical assessors, that is deemed necessary. As can be seen from the figures, a considerable period of time is added to the process when an oral hearing is required because of the logistics involved in this process. In order to be fair to all appellants, all appeals are dealt with in chronological order.

The annual intake of appeals has increased from 14,070 in 2007 to 32,432 in 2010, an increase of 18,362 (130.5%) and currently it appears that another 30,000 will be received during 2011. The need for additional resources to deal with this very significant increase has been recognised by the Department. In this context, 9 additional Appeals Officers have been assigned to the Office in recent weeks. These assignments will augment the 3 appointments made in 2010, bringing the total number of Appeals Officers serving in the office to 29.

I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that she is keeping the methods of operation by which the Social Welfare Appeals conducts its business is under constant ongoing review and the processes are continuously being enhanced to achieve better outputs, in particular to reduce the backlogs in the Office and, overall, to reduce the processing times for dealing with appeals.