Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to clarify the simplified processes and specified response times under the new appeals regulations effective from April 2025; how these new regulations will reduce current lengthy processing times for appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21693/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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 Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) were signed into law in December 2024 and will come into effect from Monday, 28 April 2025. These new regulations apply to appeals where both the notice of appeal is received and the decision under appeal is dated on or after this commencement date.

The purpose of these updated regulations is to modernise and streamline the social welfare appeals process, providing greater clarity, improved consistency, and more defined timeframes. This is expected to reduce the length of time it takes for appeals to be processed and decided.

The key changes that were introduced under the new regulations include:

The time limit for lodging an appeal has increased from 21 to 60 days, with provision for the Chief Appeals Officer to accept late appeals up to 180 days in certain circumstances. This will allow customers a longer period to prepare their appeal and gather any additional documentation. A significant proportion of the current appeals processing time can be attributed to time taken by the customer to obtain and submit reports and documentation they wish to rely on.

There are now specified response times. The Social Welfare Appeals Office must transmit the notice of appeal to the relevant scheme area within 14 days of receiving the notice of appeal. The scheme area then has 21 days to either revise the decision or provide the necessary documentation to the Appeals Office. An extension to these timelines may apply if for example new medical evidence is received and a further medical opinion needs to be requested. These defined deadlines are designed to reduce delays and improve overall processing efficiency.

The new regulations now formalise the requirement for the scheme area within the Department to carry out a review of the initial Deciding Officer’s decision. The Department may revise the decision on receipt of the notice and grounds of appeal. This should in time reduce the number of appeals that require consideration by an Appeals Officer.

Appellants and other parties must respond to requests for further information from the Appeals Officer within specified timeframes to avoid unnecessary delays. There is also now a legal entitlement to request an oral hearing. While the Appeals Officer retains discretion on whether to hold a hearing, a refusal must be accompanied by reasons, ensuring greater transparency.

To support the implementation of these reforms, updates have been made to the MyWelfare application process and the paper application form. In addition, all of our public information has been updated on gov.ie.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.