Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average time it takes for a file to be sent from the carer's allowance section in County Sligo to the social welfare appeals office in Dublin once the file has been requested by the latter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17455/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has a disability such that they require that level of care.

During 2016, the CA section which is based in my Department’s office in Longford, processed 31,881 applications. Each decision notice offered the recipient a right of review and appeal.

When a person appeals a decision, the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) who are independent of the Department, send a notice of the appeal to the CA section requesting a statement from the deciding officer showing the extent to which the facts and contentions advanced by the appellant are admitted or disputed.

At that stage a different deciding officer reviews in full the original decision which is under appeal and any additional statement or evidence provided as part of the appeal. It is quite often the case that additional information and evidence is supplied by the appellant at this stage, which may require further investigation by a Social Welfare Inspector or Medical Assessor.

This review can take some time and can sometimes result in a revised decision by the deciding officer which means an appeal is no longer required. In 2016, 751 such cases were successful on review, resulting in the withdrawal of the appeal. In another 2,581 cases, the original decision was not revised and a statement on behalf of the deciding officer was sent to the SWAO to assist in their consideration of the appeal.

The average time taken between my Department receiving these requests from the SWAO and issuing the statements to the SWAO was 44 days; this figure includes time spent re-investigating and reviewing these cases.

Reducing this waiting time is a priority for my Department and we are working hard to make this happen. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed to ensure that appeal processing capability is maximised.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.