Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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514. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to immediately pay a claim awarded to a person (details supplied) on appeal to the chief appeals officer under the invalidity pension scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9907/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have been advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the Appeals Officer who allowed the appeal of the person concerned made an error in doing so as he failed to have regard to the grounds of the Deciding Officer’s disallowance i.e. the fact that the person concerned did not satisfy the PRSI conditionality of the invalidity pension scheme.

In order to qualify for invalidity pension a claimant must have a minimum of 260 reckonable PRSI contributions (Class A, E or H) since their date of entry into insurance anda minimum of 48 reckonable PRSI contributions or credits in the year immediately preceding the year of the claim which was 2014 in the case in question.

The error was brought to the attention of the Appeals Officer by the Department and he reconsidered the appeal. As the person concerned did not satisfy either element of the mandatory PRSI contribution test the Appeals Officer had no option but to disallow the appeal. I am sure the Deputy will understand that an Appeals Officer does not have discretion to allow an appeal where a claimant clearly does not satisfy the legislative conditionality of the scheme.

I am advised by the Appeals Office that a letter explaining the error and apologising sincerely for the confusion and any upset caused as a result has issued to the person concerned.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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515. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the status of an appeal by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9931/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Partial Capacity Benefit (PCB) is a social welfare scheme which allows a person return to employment if they have a reduced capacity for work and to continue to receive a payment from my department. Applications for PCB are, in the first instance, assessed by a Medical Assessor who gives an opinion on the degree of capacity to work.

The deciding officer, having considered all the available information, decided that the person concerned has a moderately reduced capacity for work. The corresponding rate of PCB is 50% of the illness benefit which they were receiving. This is currently in payment.

A letter of appeal was received in my Department on 20 April 2016. The first step in the appeals process involves the claim papers being referred to a different medical assessor for review. The matter was referred for review on 12 May 2016.

On receipt of the medical assessor’s opinion, the matter will be considered further by the deciding officer. If it is decided that no change should be made in the level of capacity to work, the matter will then be referred to the independent Appeals Office for consideration.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.