Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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152. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to give an update on work his Department is doing to decrease social welfare appeal waiting times; the current average time it takes for an appeal to be decided on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32277/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a service 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.As of the end of Quarter1 2025 the average processing time for Social Welfare Appeals is 20.9 weeks.The Chief Appeals Officer has put in place measures to deal with the increase in appeals received during 2024. 20 Appeals Officers were assigned during December 2024 and January 2025 and are making appeal decisions. In addition, The Social Welfare Appeals Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) came 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. The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor processing times and every effort is made to reduce the time taken to process an appeal. However, the drive for efficiency must be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent and made in accordance with the provisions set out in primary legislation and regulations. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.