Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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419. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason a person (details supplied) is waiting so long to have an appeal for a carer’s allowance finalised. [5391/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, has decided to disallow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision.  The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision on 27 January 2021.

This particular appeal was registered in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 18 November 2020.  The length of time between that date and the date the decision was issued was 10 weeks.  The current average processing time for summary decisions on carer's allowance appeals is 9.6 weeks. 

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 trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.