Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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857. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the measures her Department is taking to shorten the waiting times for appeals for carer’s allowance and other sections of her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46582/24]

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 and management of the Appeals Office is the responsibility of the Chief Appeals Officer.

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.

(3) Business process improvements have been introduced within the Office to improve customer service and processing times in tandem with the implementation of new systems. Several initiatives to streamline decision processes are also being undertaken.

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.

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.

The desire to process appeals quickly must be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent, well reasoned, of high quality, and made in accordance with the legislative provisions and the general principles of fair procedures and natural justice that underpin a quasi-judicial process.

The Chief Appeals Officer closely monitors the numbers of appeals and processing times on an ongoing basis.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.