Written answers
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Appeals
Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
838. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average waiting times for applications for disability allowance, carer's allowance and appeals; the work her Department has undertaken to reduce these waiting times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46176/24]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the differing eligibility criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of illness-related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested schemes can also require more detailed investigations and interaction with the customer, thereby lengthening the decision-making process.
Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions.
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the average number of weeks to award a Disability Allowance claim is consistently 6 weeks which is well inside the average target processing time target for the scheme of 10 week. The Department continues to work hard to ensure we maintain this good outcome .
Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.
Again the average number of weeks to award a Carer's Allowance claim is consistently 7 weeks which is well inside its processing 10 week target.
To enable the Department to make timely and fair decisions on applications, applicants should ensure that they complete the application form fully and attach all the supporting documentation required as per the checklist provided on the application form. It is particularly important that an applicant provides, at the outset, all the details they have in relation to their medical conditions to best support their claim. This will eliminate the requirement for a Deciding Officer to have to revert to an applicant for clarifications or missing information and reduce the overall processing time.
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. From January 2024 to November 2024 the average processing time for a Disability Allowance Appeal was 21.1 weeks and 23.9 weeks for a Carers Allowance appeal.
Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to improvements in the appeal process in recently. 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. Improvements in appeals processing times are a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
No comments