Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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83. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide, in tabular form and by county, the number of State pensions (contributory) and (non-contributory) granted and refused from 1 January 2014 to date in 2015; the average waiting time for decisions on appeals; the number of appeals referred to an independent oral appeal; and the percentages of these approved and refused. [14485/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department. I am however informed that during the period specified there were 67,159 applications for state pensions of which 45,121 (67.2%) were awarded and 16,193 (24.1%) were disallowed and the remainder were either withdrawn by the applicant or are pending a decision. A breakdown of these figures is detailed in the tabular statements.

The average time taken to process State Pension (non-contributory) appeals decided by summary decision in 2014 was 20.3 weeks and 29.4 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. The average time for 2015 to the end of March was 18.0 weeks for summary decision and 31.8 weeks for oral hearing.

The number of State Pension (non-contributory) appeals decided by oral hearing in 2014 was 81 of which 50 (61.8 %) had a successful outcome for the appellant. In 2015 to the end of March the number decided by oral hearing was 22 of which 11 (50.0 %) had a successful outcome.

The average time taken to process State Pension (contributory) appeals decided by summary decision in 2014 was 25.2 weeks and 41.9 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. The average time for 2015 to the end of March was 22.8 weeks for summary decision and 45.4 weeks for oral hearing.

The number of State Pension (contributory) appeals decided by oral hearing in 2014 was 35 of which 19 (54.3 %) had a successful outcome for the appellant. In 2015 to the end of March the number decided by oral hearing was 13 of which 4 (30.8 %) had a successful outcome.

State Pensions Registered, Awarded or Disallowed 2014

State Pensions Registered, Awarded or Disallowed 2015