Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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923. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of applications for disability allowance; the total number of successful first-time applications; the total number of appeals; the total number of successful and unsuccessful appeals; the total number of requests for a review and the number of successful and unsuccessful reviews in each of the past five years in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2128/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66.  This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions.

During 2022 the Department received 26,021 new applications for Disability Allowance. Over the course of the year the Department awarded 13,817 claims. It should be noted that applications processed included some received in late 2021 and also that some of the applications awarded would have first been refused and then subsequently awarded following receipt of additional information.

The number of disability allowance (DA) applications received, allowed and disallowed from 2018 to date in 2022 are set out in the table below.

DA Scheme

(*)Please note that the statistics in relation to awarded cases include cases in the disallowed category which were subsequently awarded following a review or a successful appeal. 

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 following tables show the number of DA appeals received and allowed, disallowed or partially allowed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) from 2018 to the end of 2022.

Disability Allowance Appeal Outcomes 2018-2022

Appeals which had a favourable outcome for the appellant consist of appeals which were either allowed in full or in part by an Appeals Officer, or which were resolved by way of a revised decision in favour of the appellant by a Deciding Officer.  

There are a number of reasons why a decision which was refused at first instance might be successful on appeal and it is not necessarily the case that the first decision was incorrect.  It is often the case that new evidence is provided with an appeal and that, as a result, the original decision may be revised by the Deciding Officer. 

Where the decision was not revised by the Department in light of the appeal contentions, further evidence is often provided by the appellant as the appeal process proceeds and, in addition, the Appeals Officer may gain further insights when they engage with the appellant throughout the appeal process  which may influence the outcome of the appeal.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the deputy.