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 an appeal by the person concerned was registered on the 24th August 2023. 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.

These papers were received on 5th October 2023 and the case was assigned to an Appeals Officer on 17th October 2023, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if necessary, hold an oral appeal hearing.

The Appeals Officer has been contacted to expedite this case and has confirmed that all of the evidence submitted will be considered in reaching a decision.

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.

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. 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.

I have been advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there are currently 15 Invalidity Pension appeals, registered 8 months ago or more, that are still awaiting a decision.

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 6 November 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.

I trust this clarifies matters the matter for the Deputy.