Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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676. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average time it is taking for the Independent Social Welfare Appeals Office from receipt of an appeal to decision, broken down between cases that require an oral hearing and those that do not, and between all schemes; the steps she is taking to provide extra resources to the appeals office to deal with delays; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44751/24]

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.

It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers be sought from the scheme area of the Department. This may involve further medical assessments in certain illness related cases or further investigation by Social Welfare Inspectors, where required. All of these elements can in certain circumstances lead to extended processing times.

In 2023 the average time taken to process an appeal was 16.0 weeks. The average processing time for an appeal dealt with summarily was 17.6 weeks. The average processing time for an appeal that included an oral hearing was 29.2 weeks.

An Appeals Modernisation Project is currently underway. The key features of the project are:

(1) Introduction of a new IT system for more efficient end to end processing of appeals. The first release of this system went live in November 2023 and work on adding functionality to the system is continuing.

(2) Provision of an online service for appellants to make their appeals on the MyWelfare platform. This service was implemented in July 2024 and work on enhancing online appeals functionality is continuing.

The modernisation project has contributed to a reduction in the time taken to register and acknowledge appeals lodged with the Appeals Office and this is assisting with the management of processing times. The new system has streamlined the engagement between the Appeals Office and my Department to ensure that the appeals process operates as efficiently as possible. Where the Deciding Officer's decision is not revised in favour of the appellant, the appeal file papers are provided as quickly as possible to the Appeals Office for consideration by an Appeals Officer.

The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor processing times and resource requirements and every effort is made to reduce the time taken to process an appeal. I am advised that business process improvements have been introduced within the Office to improve customer service and processing times in tandem with the implementation of the new systems. Several initiatives to streamline decision processes are also being undertaken. However, the drive for efficiency must be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent and of high quality and made in accordance with the provisions set out in primary legislation and regulations.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.