Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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979. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she is aware of the delays in the social welfare appeals office, with the time for registration of an appeal currently running at almost 12-weeks; if extra staff will be allocated to the area urgently; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1740/24]

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. The current processing times for appeals finalised from 1st January 2023 to the 31st December 2023 are 29.2 weeks for an oral hearing and 17.6 weeks for a summary decision.

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. As part of this project a new IT system went live on the 6th November 2023. The new system will significantly reduce the time taken to register and acknowledge appeals lodged with the Appeals Office. Additional staff were assigned to the office as part of the project to assist with the preparation for and transition to the new IT system and the establishment of new procedures.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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.

The table below provides the number of Disability Allowance appeals finalised as well as the number of these appeals that were successful for the years 2014 to 2023. The appeals finalised and favourable outcomes includes appeals where on review the Department subsequently revised their original decision in favour of the applicant.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.