Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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146. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which she expects appeals against various social welfare decisions to be facilitated in early date including oral hearings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35280/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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.

The time taken to process an appeal reflects a number of factors, including that the appeals process is a quasi-judicial process with Appeals Officers being required to decide all appeals on a ‘de-novo’ basis. In addition, appeals decisions are themselves subject to review by the High Court and decisions have to be formally written up to quasi-judicial standards.

Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent years. As a result, average appeal processing times have generally improved between 2018 and 2020 from 30.0 weeks for an oral hearing in 2018 to 27.1 weeks in 2020, and from 24.8 weeks for a summary decision in 2018 to 15.5 weeks in 2020.

Processing performance has in the past number of years been affected by a relatively large number of retirements in the Appeals Office - although these staff have been replaced it takes time for a new Appeals Officer to reach full productivity. Nevertheless, the latest data for the period January to May 2021 shows a further improvement to 26.3 weeks for an oral hearing and 13.3 weeks for a summary decision. Further improvements in appeals processing times is a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer.

Where a claimant has been refused a social welfare payment, regardless of the scheme involved, and is appealing that decision, if their means are insufficient to meet their needs it is open to them to apply for supplementary welfare allowance in the interim. If their application for supplementary welfare allowance is refused, they can also appeal that decision. The supplementary welfare allowance appeal will be prioritised for attention within the Appeals Office as soon as the appeal file and submission is received from my Department.

Appeals Officers make summary decisions on appeals based on the documentary evidence presented or, if necessary, hold an oral hearing. Hearings are currently being conducted online or by telephone. Due to the current level of Covid-19 restrictions in-person oral appeal hearings have been suspended.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.