Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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142. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection for details of the average social welfare appeals processing times in weeks for summary decisions and oral hearings, by scheme. [3101/24]

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.

Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent years.

Further 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 6^thNovember 2023. The new system has significantly reduced the time taken to register and acknowledge appeals lodged with the Appeals Office and in time will reduce the overall average processing times. 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.

The table below shows a breakdown of the average processing times for all appeals by scheme, which were decided on a summary basis and by oral hearing, for the period 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023.

Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2023– 31 December 2023