Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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473. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons currently waiting for an oral hearing for an appeal to the social welfare appeals office broken down by scheme; and the current waiting time. [26265/22]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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474. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons who had an oral hearing for an appeal to the social welfare appeals office in 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022; the benefits and allowances being appealed; and the number of appeals in which there was a favourable decision for the applicant in each benefit and allowance. [26266/22]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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475. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average length of time that an oral hearing appeals to the social welfare appeals office lasts. [26267/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 473 to 475, inclusive, together.

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.

When an appeal is assigned to an Appeals Officer for consideration the Appeals Officer makes a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if necessary, holds an oral hearing. The holding of an oral hearing is at the discretion of the Appeals Officer.

Oral hearings have been successfully conducted online and, as an alternative, by telephone since October 2020 and these types of hearings will continue. This remote hearing approach has proven to be an effective way of facilitating an oral hearing previously achieved through the holding of an in-person hearing. An in-person hearing will only be held in any case where it is deemed essential by the Appeals Officer.

It is not possible to state how many appeal cases may require an oral hearing at any one time. However, for those appeals where it is identified that an oral hearing is required, a hearing can generally be arranged within approximately two weeks. The length of time each individual oral hearing takes depends on a number of factors including the circumstances of the case and the number of attendees. A fairly typical hearing takes approximately an hour to conclude. The position in relation to the conducting of oral hearings is being kept under review by the Chief Appeals Officer.

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 2021 from 30.0 weeks for an oral hearing in 2018 to 25.5 weeks in 2021, and from 24.8 weeks for a summary decision in 2018 to 13.9 weeks in 2021. The figures for the period January to April 2022 were 22.9 weeks for oral hearing decisions and 14.8 weeks for summary decisions.

The tables below provide the average appeal processing times for appeals by scheme type for the year to the end of April 2022. They also provide outcomes of oral hearings by scheme type in each year from 2020 to the end of April 2022.

Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2022– 30 April 2022

Outcome of Oral Hearing appeals2020

Outcome of Oral Hearing appeals 2021

Outcome of Oral Hearing appeals 2022 to end of April

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.