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Carer’s Allowance

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 July 2012

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Questions (197)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

208 Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Social Protection the process by which carer’s allowance appeals are being carried out; if there is a significant backlog; the average and maximum wait for appeals decisions; her views on the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33299/12]

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Written answers

I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that for the first half of 2012 the current average times taken to process carer's allowance appeals decided by summary decision is 32.1 weeks and 45.3 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. Generally the vast majority of cases fall within average times but extenuating factors, often outside of the control of the Social Welfare Appeals Office, will cause greater delays in some cases. In the light of this, if the most protracted cases are excluded (i.e. those received before January 2011), the relevant waiting times are 30.7 for summary decision and 38.7 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. There are 1,606 carer's appeals pending at the end of June 2012.

By its nature and because it is a quasi-judicial process, the processing of appeals takes time and reflects the fact that, by definition, the appeal process cannot be a quick one. Once an appeal is received, there is a statutory requirement for a response to that appeal by a Deciding Officer addressing the contentions raised in the appeal. If new evidence is submitted, a review of the decision will be undertaken by the Department and this may involve a re-investigation of the appellant's circumstances. When the submission is received from the Department, in many cases there is a need to conduct an oral hearing of the appeal which requires the booking of a venue at a location convenient to the appellant, arranging the attendance of witnesses, notifying appellants and handling cancellations and this adds quite considerably to the time taken to process appeals.

In an effort to reduce the processing times, the Department has appointed 13 additional Appeals Officers since 2010. In addition, a further 10 Appeals Officers, formerly employed by the Community Welfare Service (CWS) of the Health Services Executive joined the Office as part of the integration of the CWS appeals services into the Social Welfare Appeals Office. This has brought the total number of Appeals Officers to 40. In addition to this, the Office has improved its business processes and IT support.

I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that she is keeping the methods of operation by which the Social Welfare Appeals Office conducts its business under constant review, and that the processes are continuously being enhanced to reduce the backlogs in the Office and, overall, to reduce the processing times for dealing with appeals. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an appeal for the person concerned has not, as yet, been received in that Office. The application is currently being processed by the Carer's Allowance section of the Department and an appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office will only arise in the event that the person is not satisfied with the decision of the Deciding Officer.

The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. Currently the average time taken to award a carer's allowance application is 28 weeks. I acknowledge that the time taken to process carer's allowance claims at present is not satisfactory but a major service delivery modernisation project is underway to improve the efficiency of administration of the carer's allowance scheme. This involves the deployment of information technology solutions and associated business process re-organisation. It is anticipated that the new system will introduce significant processing efficiencies and a quicker and more responsive service to the customers. Full deployment of the new system for carer's allowance has been completed this month. In tandem with the full implementation of the new system, a comprehensive business process improvement exercise commenced on the 2nd July, the focus of which is to optimise performance and provide improved customer service. However it is expected to be a number of months before the backlog is reduced to an acceptable level.

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