Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Labour)
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247. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of invalidity pension applications that have gone to appeal, and that have been granted under special provision by her Department, only to be immediately subject to a medical review in 2012 and to date in 2013; if her attention has been drawn to the concerns and worry that this is causing applicants who have been awaiting their claim for a long period, some waiting a year or two; if she will immediately review this policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29203/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Invalidity Pension is a payment for people who satisfy the contribution conditions and who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity. Medical Assessors review a medical report in line with evidence based medical protocols and Departmental guidelines to determine medical eligibility for the scheme. A person's continuing medical eligibility for the scheme can be reviewed at any time.

Where a case is pending appeal and there is a change of circumstances or additional evidence available, a deciding officer will first review the claim to see if a revised decision is warranted before the case is sent to the SWAO for determination

A structured programme to address backlogs in appeal applications has been underway in this scheme area since November 2012. The term 'special projects' is a temporary one in use during this period to reflect cases which had been at least 1 year on illness benefit but which were initially disallowed invalidity pension because they were deemed not to satisfy the condition of being expected to be incapable of work for a further year. Since November 2012 approximately one thousand of these cases have been awarded and paid. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of those awarded in 2012 and those awarded in 2013. These cases were awarded on the basis that they satisfied the condition of being incapable of work for 1 year prior and 1 year after date of application however due to the delay in claim processing these are now appropriate for a review of continued medical eligibility.

These cases arose as a direct result of the backlog elimination and will not continue to occur once the appeals cases are cleared.

This practice is not intended to cause worry or concern to invalidity pension recipients it is simply to ensure that recipients continue to satisfy the medical eligibility conditions.