Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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498. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of appeals received by the social welfare appeals office per month since 2021, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4573/23]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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499. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the current average processing time for an appeal with the social welfare appeals office; the average processing time for appeals by month from 2021 to date, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4574/23]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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500. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the delays in the provision of documentation to the appeals office by social welfare sections; the impact this is having on appeal processing times; the efforts being made to reduce these delays; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4575/23]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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501. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the efforts that are being made to reduce appeal processing times in the social welfare appeals office; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4576/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 498, 499, 500 and 501 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.

The total number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office per month since 2021 is set out in the table below:

Appeals received 2021-2022

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 approximately 1% are appealed. The Department endeavors to ensure that these cases are dealt with as quickly as possible.

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.

The appeals process is quasi-judicial and decisions have to be formally written up to a quasi-judicial standard and are subject to review by the High Court. Accordingly the desire to process appeals quickly must be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent, well reasoned and of high quality and made in accordance with the legislative provisions and the general principles of fair procedures and natural justice.

The quasi-judicial nature of the appeals process also means that each aspect of the process takes time to complete. Appeals legislation requires that the appeal must be sent to the Department for a submission from the Deciding Officer who originally decided the case. The appeal contentions will be reviewed at this point. In 2021 49.3% of appeals which had a favourable outcome resulted from revised decisions by Deciding Officers at this stage. In 2022, 53.2% of appeals which had a favourable outcome resulted from revised decisions by Deciding Officers at this stage.

The current average processing times for an appeal with the Social Welfare Appeals Office are 14.7 weeks for a summary decision and 25.1 weeks for a decision by way of oral hearing. These figures are based on appeals finalised in December 2022.

The average processing times for an appeal with the Social Welfare Appeals Office for each month from 2021 to date are set out in the table below:

Appeal processing times 2021 (weeks)

Appeal processing times 2022 (weeks)

Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to improvements in the appeal process in recent years. As a result, average appeal processing times have generally improved between 2018 and 2022 from 30.0 weeks for an oral hearing in 2018 to 26.0 weeks in 2022, and from 24.8 weeks for a summary decision in 2018 to 15.0 weeks in 2022. The average time for all appeals finalised in 2022 was 14.9 weeks.

It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department by the Social Welfare Appeals Office. There is active engagement between the Appeals Office and the Department to ensure that this process operates efficiently and that where the Deciding Officer's decision is not revised in favour of the appellant that the appeal file papers are provided as quickly as possible to the Appeals Office for consideration by an Appeals Officer. Over the course of the year 2022 the breakdown of the duration of the average appeal was 6.4 weeks in the Appeals Office and 8.5 weeks in the Department. The equivalent figures for December 2022 were slightly lower at 5.7 weeks in the Appeals Office and 8.0 weeks in the Department.

Currently, (January 2023) there are 42 Appeals Officers serving in the Office, along with the Chief Appeals Officer and two Deputy Chief Appeals Officers. Since the start of 2021 a total of 14 Appeals Officers have left the Office, many of these were amongst the most experienced officers. In the same period since the start of 2021 a total of 13 new Appeals Officers have been appointed, 3 of these since the start of 2022 and the new Officers are quickly getting up to speed. Given the complexity of the appeals process significant time and resources have been directed towards the training of these new staff to develop expertise which it is envisaged, in due course, will impact positively on appeal processing times.

Further improvements in appeals processing times are a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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502. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of appeals officers currently employed in the social welfare appeals office; if her Department has plans to increase this figure in the coming months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4577/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There are 45 Appeals Officers currently employed in the independent Social Welfare Appeals office.  We have one Appeals Officer vacancy at present.  As with all staffing in the Department, the appropriate staffing levels are kept under review and there are no plans to increase the numbers of Appeals Officers in the coming months.