John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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1808. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeframe for appeals with the social welfare appeals office for disability allowance, broken down into county and wait time by 1 month, 3 months and so on, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41986/25]

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.

Data in relation to the timeframe for appeals is not produced by county and wait times by 1 month, 3 months etc. are not maintained.

The average timeframe to process Disability Allowance appeals in 2024 was 16 weeks. This information will be available on the Social Welfare Appeals Office Annual Report which is due to be published shortly. Average processing times for Disability Allowance appeals for 2023 and previous years are available on Annual Reports published for those years.

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, new Social Welfare Appeals Regulations (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) came into effect from Monday, 28 April 2025. The purpose of these regulations is to modernise and streamline the social welfare appeals process, providing greater clarity, improved consistency, and more defined timeframes. It is expected that this will reduce the number of appeals on hand and the length of time it takes for appeals to be processed and decided.

One of the key changes introduced under the new regulations is the time limit for lodging an appeal, which 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.

The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor the number of appeals on hand and the appeal 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.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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1809. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeframe for appeals with the social welfare appeals office for carer's allowance, broken down into county and wait time by 1 month, 3 months and so on, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41987/25]

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.

Data in relation to the timeframe for appeals is not produced by county and wait times by 1 month, 3 months etc. are also not maintained.

The average timeframe to process Carers Allowance appeals in 2024 was 17 weeks. This information will be available in the Social Welfare Appeals Office Annual Report which is due to be published shortly. Average processing times for Carers Allowance appeals for 2023 and previous years are available on Annual Reports published for those years.

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, new Social Welfare Appeals Regulations (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) came into effect from Monday, 28 April 2025. The purpose of these regulations is to modernise and streamline the social welfare appeals process, providing greater clarity, improved consistency, and more defined timeframes. It is expected that this will reduce the number of appeals on hand and the length of time it takes for appeals to be processed and decided.

One of the key changes introduced under the new regulations is the time limit for lodging an appeal, which 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.

The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor the number of appeals on hand and the appeal 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.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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1810. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeframe for appeals with the social welfare appeals office for invalidity pension, broken down by county and wait time by 1 month, 3 months and so on, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41988/25]

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.

Data in relation to the timeframe for appeals is not produced by county and wait times by 1 month, 3 months etc. are not maintained.

The average timeframe to process Invalidity Pension appeals in 2024 was 15 weeks. This information will be available on the Social Welfare Appeals Office Annual Report which is due to be published shortly. Average processing times for Invalidity Pension appeals for 2023 and previous years are available on Annual Reports published for those years.

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, new Social Welfare Appeals Regulations (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) came into effect from Monday, 28 April 2025. The purpose of these regulations is to modernise and streamline the social welfare appeals process, providing greater clarity, improved consistency, and more defined timeframes. It is expected that this will reduce the number of appeals on hand and the length of time it takes for appeals to be processed and decided.

One of the key changes introduced under the new regulations is the time limit for lodging an appeal, which 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.

The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor the number of appeals on hand and the appeal 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.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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1811. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the timeframe for appeals with the social welfare appeals office for domiciliary care allowance, broken down by county and wait time by one month, three months and so on, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41989/25]

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.

Data in relation to the timeframe for appeals is not produced by county and wait times by 1 month, 3 months etc. are not maintained.

The average timeframe to process Domiciliary Care Allowance appeals in 2024 was 23 weeks. This information will be available on the Social Welfare Appeals Office Annual Report which is due to be published shortly. Average processing times for Domiciliary Care Allowance appeals for 2023 and previous years are available on Annual Reports published for those years.

There was a particular focus on Domiciliary Care Allowance appeals in recent weeks. This has resulted in the successful reduction of 1,431 Domiciliary Care Allowance appeals on hand at the 31st March 2025 to less than 529 at the 30th June 2025, the majority of which are appeals registered in the previous 12 weeks.

New Social Welfare Appeals Regulations (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) came into effect from Monday, 28 April 2025. The purpose of these regulations is to modernise and streamline the social welfare appeals process, providing greater clarity, improved consistency, and more defined timeframes. It is expected that this will reduce the number of appeals on hand and the length of time it takes for appeals to be processed and decided.

One of the key changes introduced under the new regulations is the time limit for lodging an appeal, which 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.

The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor the number of appeals on hand and the appeal 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.