Vol. 550 No. 4
521 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the back to education allowance to be finalised; the number who have been refused the back to education allowance in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for back to education allowance are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the back to education allowance allowed in the past 12 months. [8605/02]
The back to education allowance scheme is a non statutory scheme. Therefore, decisions made on applications under the scheme cannot be appealed to the appeals office. However, if a person is dissatisfied with the result of his or her application he or she can request a review. The review is carried out, within back to education schemes, by an officer of a higher grade than the one who made the original decision.
522 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the back to work allowance to be finalised; the number who have been refused the back to work allowance in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for back to work allowance are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the back to work allowance allowed in the past 12 months. [8606/02]
The back to work allowance scheme was introduced in 1993 to encourage the long-term unemployed and other social welfare recipients to take up employment opportunities. Participants in the scheme retain a reducing proportion rate of their social welfare payment over three years if taking up work as an employee or four years if taking up self employment.
As the scheme is non statutory it does not come under the aegis of the formal appeal system. However if a person is dissatisfied with the outcome of an application he or she may request an internal review of the decision.
At present there are six cases awaiting review. There are no national statistics available on the number of cases disallowed in the past 12 months. A request for a review of the outcome of a back to work claim is normally processed within a six week period. During the year 2001 there were 136 requests for reviews. Of these 26 cases were subsequently allowed.
523 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the widow's or widower's non-contributory pension to be finalised; the number who have been refused the widow's of widower's non-contributory pension in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for widow's or widower's non-contributory pension are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the widow's or widower's non-contributory pension allowed in the past 12 months. [8607/02]
524 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the one parent family allowance to be finalised; the number who have been refused the one parent family allowance in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for one parent family allowance are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the one parent family allowance allowed in the past 12 months. [8608/02]
525 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the old age non- contributory pension to be finalised; the number who have been refused the old age non-contributory pension in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for old age non-contributory pension are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the old age non-contributory pension allowed in the past 12 months. [8609/02]
526 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the old age pre-1953 contributory pension to be finalised; the number who have been refused the old age pre-1953 contributory pension in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for old age pre-1953 contributory pension are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the old age pre-1953 contributory pension allowed in the past 12 months. [8610/02]
527 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the old age contributory pension to be finalised; the number who have been refused the old age contributory pension in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for old age contributory pension are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the old age contributory pension allowed in the past 12 months. [8611/02]
528 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the family income supplement to be finalised; the number who have been refused the family income supplement in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for family income supplement are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the family income supplement allowed in the past 12 months. [8612/02]
529 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the farm assist to be finalised; the number who have been refused the farm assist in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for farm assist are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the farm assist allowed in the past 12 months. [8613/02]
530 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the unemployment assistance to be finalised; the number who have been refused the unemployment assistance in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for unemployment assistance are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the unemployment assistance allowed in the past 12 months. [8614/02]
531 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the carer's allowance to be finalised; the number who have been refused the carer's allowance in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for carer's allowance are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the carer's allowance allowed in the past 12 months. [8615/02]
532 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people waiting on appeals for the disability allowance to be finalised; the number who have been refused the disability allowance in the past 12 months; the length of time on average the appeals for disability allowance are taking; and the number of people who have had appeals for the disability allowance allowed in the past 12 months. [8616/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 523 to 532, inclusive, together.
The numbers sought in the question, in so far as details are available, are set out in the following table.
The average time taken to process all appeals finalised during 2001 was just under 23 weeks. This average period includes all phases of appeals from the date of the initial notice of appeal to the date when it is finally closed in the records of the appeals office. It would include additional investigations, second medical assessor examinations, where needed, and adjournments sought to enable additional evidence to be submitted. If allowance is made for the 25% of the most protracted appeals the average time is about 15 weeks. Average times for individual types of appeals are not readily available.
|
Number of claims disallowed by deciding officers in 2001 |
Number of appeals in progress at 31 December 2001 |
Number of appeals resolved in favour of appellants in 2001 |
|
|
Widows/widowers non-contributory pension |
292 |
33 |
42 |
|
One Parent Family Allowance |
3,952 |
722 |
334 |
|
Old Age Non-contributory Pension |
2,856 |
328 |
178 |
|
Old Age Contributory Pension |
7,969 |
72 |
29 |
|
Family Income Supplement |
3,844 |
43 |
45 |
|
Farm Assist |
Not available |
52 |
104 |
|
Unemployment Assistance |
Not available |
999 |
1,040 |
|
Carer's Allowance |
3,411 |
725 |
723 |
|
Disability Allowance |
5,281 |
852 |
948 |
