Written answers
Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Appeals
Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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134. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will outline the current waiting times at the appeals office and if additional resources will be allocated to it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59128/22]
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.
All claim decisions taken by the Department’s Deciding Officers and Designated Persons are appealable to the Chief Appeals Officer. In any year about 85% of all claims are awarded by the Department and just 1% are appealed. Nevertheless, the Department endeavours to ensure that these cases are dealt with as quickly as possible.
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.
The desire to process appeals quickly has to be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent and of high quality and made in accordance with the legislative provisions and the general principles of fair procedures and natural justice.
Currently there are 41 Appeals Officers serving in the Social Welfare Appeals Office. This staffing cadre is kept under review.
Further improvements in appeals processing times is a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer.
The table below provides the average processing times for all appeals for the period 1 January to 31 October 2022.
Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2022– 31 October 2022
| Average processing times (weeks)Summary Decisions | Average processing times (weeks)Oral Hearings | |
|---|---|---|
| Blind Person’s Pension | 14.6 | - |
| Back To Work Family Dividend | 12.5 | - |
| Carer’s Allowance | 12.1 | 18.4 |
| Carer’s Benefit | 10.7 | 17.8 |
| Carer’s Support Grant | 10.5 | 23.1 |
| Child Benefit | 26.5 | 28.2 |
| Death Benefit | 4.9 | - |
| Deserted Wife’s Benefit | 14.9 | 64.2 |
| Disability Allowance | 11.7 | 20.5 |
| Disablement Pension | 19.5 | 29.4 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 20.6 | 32.0 |
| Farm Assist | 16.8 | 38.9 |
| Guardian's Payment (Contributory) | 14.1 | 12.5 |
| Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory) | 12.8 | - |
| Illness Benefit | 14.7 | 18.9 |
| Insurability of Employment | 143.6 | 76.0 |
| Invalidity Pension | 13.6 | 30.9 |
| Jobseeker's Allowance (Means) | 15.0 | 30.5 |
| Jobseeker's Allowance (Payments) | 12.0 | 35.9 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit | 13.1 | 23.7 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit O65 | 13.5 | 23.4 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit Self Employed | 15.9 | - |
| Jobseeker's Transitional | 11.9 | 25.0 |
| Liable Relatives | 8.9 | - |
| Maternity Benefit | 11.8 | 20.9 |
| Occupational Injury Benefit | 23.0 | - |
| One Parent Family Payment | 16.3 | 23.8 |
| Pandemic Unemployment Payment | 22.1 | - |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 11.9 | 24.1 |
| Parent's Benefit | 13.3 | - |
| Paternity Benefit | 12.5 | - |
| State Pension (Contributory) | 19.3 | 61.4 |
| State Pension (Non-Contributory) | 22.8 | 53.0 |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | 15.8 | 31.9 |
| Treatment Benefit | 13.0 | - |
| Widow/Widower's Pension (Contributory) | 17.2 | 58.7 |
| Widow/Widower's Pension (Non-Contributory) | 11.7 | - |
| Widowed Parent Grant | 16.7 | - |
| Working Family Payment | 18.0 | 65.4 |
| All Appeals | 15.0 | 25.8 |
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
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