Written answers
Wednesday, 6 December 2023
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Appeals
Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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117. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of appeals in progress under each social protection payment for 0 to 6 months, 6 to 12 months and 12 months plus, in tabular form; the number of appeals decisions for each payment that were accepted and declined last month, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54189/23]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that 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 weeks for an oral hearing in 2018 to 26 weeks in 2022, and from 24.8 weeks for a summary decision in 2018 to 15 weeks in 2022. The average time for all appeals finalised in 2022 was 14.9 weeks.
Improvements in appeals processing times are a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer. A significant Appeals Modernisation Project is currently underway the goal of which is to streamline and enhance the end-to-end appeals process for the customer, the Social Welfare Appeals Office and business areas across the Department.
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.
There are a number of reasons why an appeal might be recorded in the figures below as being in progress for over 6 months. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. The Department may be actively engaging with the claimant with a view to revising the original decision and documentation may still be outstanding. If an original decision has been revised and not notified to the Appeals Office it may still be inadvertently recorded as in progress. The new integrated Appeals IT system recently implemented will in time address this issue.
The Appeals Office may also be engaging with the appellant by way of an oral hearing. Appeals involving an oral hearing by their nature take longer. Arrangements are made for the hearing to take place and adequate notice is given to parties who are invited to attend.
There is active engagement between the Appeals Office and the Department to ensure that the appeals 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.
The first table below provides as of 1 December 2023 Appeals in progress for 0-6 Months, 6-12 Months and 12 Months plus.
The second table provides Appeal Decision outcomes of either favourable or unfavourable for each payment for the month of November 2023.
| Appeals in Progress as of 01/12/2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheme | 0-6 Months | 6-12 Months | > 12 Months |
| Blind Pension | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Back to Work Family Dividend | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Carer's Allowance | 1039 | 66 | 14 |
| Carer's Benefit | 81 | 3 | 1 |
| Child Benefit | 153 | 56 | 39 |
| Disability Allowance | 1,611 | 65 | 39 |
| Illness Benefit | 266 | 55 | 67 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 613 | 53 | 19 |
| Deserted Wives Benefit | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Farm Assist | 23 | 6 | 7 |
| Working Family Payment | 393 | 96 | 33 |
| Homemakers | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Invalidity Pension | 402 | 24 | 8 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit Over 65 | 26 | 6 | 9 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit Self Employed | 23 | 4 | 10 |
| Jobseeker's Transition | 47 | 14 | 15 |
| Liable Relative | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Maternity Benefit | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| State Pension Contributory | 271 | 46 | 20 |
| State Pension Non-Contributory | 129 | 20 | 25 |
| Occupational Injury Benefit | 61 | 15 | 5 |
| Guardians Payment Contributory | 16 | 2 | 2 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 150 | 30 | 40 |
| Guardians Payment Non Contributory | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| Parents Benefit | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| Paternity Benefit | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 53 | 3 | 1 |
| Pandemic Unemployment Payment | 10 | 16 | 41 |
| Jobseeker's Means | 217 | 44 | 54 |
| Recoverable Benefits | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Care's Support Grant | 120 | 5 | 2 |
| Insurability - Scope Section | 21 | 10 | 49 |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | 225 | 117 | 135 |
| Treatment Benefit | 37 | 2 | 1 |
| Jobseeker's Allowance | 932 | 194 | 143 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit | 526 | 91 | 85 |
| Widows Contributory Pension | 18 | 5 | 3 |
| Widows Non Contributory Pension | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Widowed Parent Grant | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 7530 | 1066 | 870 |
Appeal Outcomes for November 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scheme | Favourable | Unfavourable |
| Blind Pension | 0 | 0 |
| Back to Work Family Dividend | 0 | 0 |
| Carer's Allowance | 90 | 136 |
| Carer's Benefit | 8 | 3 |
| Child Benefit | 7 | 10 |
| Disability Allowance | 227 | 194 |
| Illness Benefit | 6 | 7 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 86 | 43 |
| Deserted Wives Benefit | 0 | 0 |
| Farm Assist | 2 | 4 |
| Family Income Supplement | 43 | 6 |
| Homemakers | 0 | 0 |
| Invalidity Pension | 69 | 29 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit Over 65 | 1 | 7 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit Self Employed | 0 | 1 |
| Jobseeker's Transition | 3 | 4 |
| Liable Relative | 0 | 0 |
| Maternity Benefit | 1 | 10 |
| State Pension Contributory | 17 | 19 |
| State Pension Non Contributory | 8 | 10 |
| Occupational Injury Benefit | 6 | 2 |
| Guardians Payment Contributory | 3 | 4 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 7 | 3 |
| Guardians Payment Non Contributory | 0 | 0 |
| Parents Benefit | 1 | 2 |
| Paternity Benefit | 1 | 0 |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 2 | 6 |
| Pandemic Unemployment Payment | 3 | 1 |
| Jobseekers Means | 12 | 15 |
| Recoverable Benefits | 0 | 0 |
| Carer's Support Grant | 6 | 9 |
| Insurability - Scope Section | 0 | 0 |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | 17 | 47 |
| Treatment Benefit | 13 | 1 |
| Jobseeker's Allowance | 36 | 52 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit | 31 | 19 |
| Widows Contributory Pension | 0 | 5 |
| Widows Non Contributory Pension | 0 | 0 |
| Widowed Parent Grant | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 706 | 652 |
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
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