Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 October 2012
98. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will make available a report on the social welfare appeals office covering the second two quarters of 2012 as she did in relation to the first quarter of the year. [46692/12]
View answerA report on the Social Welfare Appeals Office up to September 2012, as requested by the deputy is attached.
Report: January to September 2012 – Social Welfare Appeals Office
Overview
Processing times have significantly improved this year. This is a result of the measures put in place to deal with the backlog including
- The assignment of 15 additional Appeals Officers
- Retired Appeals Officers retained for 18 months ending December 2011
- Improvements to business processes and IT support
- New operating model
Processing times
Before the current pressures on the office, the average processing time was around 14 weeks for a summary decision and around 31 weeks for an oral hearing. This peaked last year at an average of 25 weeks for a summary decision and 52.5 weeks for an oral hearing. One of the problems with the processing times was the very significant disparity between the time taken for a summary decision as against an oral hearing. This was a result of the operating model whereby files were assigned to AOs to either decide the appeal (summary decision) or return the file for the case to be dealt with by way of an oral appeal hearing, most likely by a different AO. This meant that where a case was not decided summarily it went back into a second queue to await assignment to a different AO, which carried an inherent delay for our customers.
Under a new model, operating since January, where an officer is assigned a case load, he or she will either decide the case summarily or, if an oral hearing is warranted, will conduct the hearing him/herself. This enhances the Appeals Officer’s responsibility for the individual case and serves as an incentive to ensure the process operates effectively. Table 1 shows the progressive reduction and rebalancing of processing times that has taken place over the last 9 months under the new operating model. These figures should continue to improve as our capacity increases (between turnover and additional resources, 25 AOs have less than 18 months experience with some no more than a few weeks.). Of course, the time taken to process appeals reflects all aspects of the process including the time taken by the Department to finalise the submission and, where warranted, to arrange further medical assessments.
Number of cases on hands
While the processing times are improving the number of cases on hands is up by about 3,000 on the end of 2011. This is largely a result of the integration of the SWA appeals service with the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO). Up to October 2011, appeals in relation to SWA were made in the first instance to the HSE. If a person was dissatisfied with the outcome of that appeal, they could then appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. From October 2011, this two-step process ceased and SWA appeals are now made directly to the SWAO. It is estimated that this will increase the number of appeals received in 2012 by up to 8,000 cases. See Table 2.
Table 1 Processing Times
|
Year |
Summary Decision |
Oral Hearing |
|
2007 |
14.2 |
30.4 |
|
2008 |
13.9 |
32.9 |
|
2009 |
18.2 |
34.8 |
|
2010 |
27.4 |
45.6 |
|
2011 |
25.1 |
52.5 |
|
January 2012 |
20.9 |
48.5 |
|
February 2012 |
22.4 |
38.1 |
|
March 2012 |
23.9 |
38.7 |
|
April 2012 |
27.7 |
39.4 |
|
May 2012 |
30.2 |
40.6 |
|
June 2012 |
28.6 |
39.7 |
|
July 2012 |
30.3 |
40.3 |
|
August 2012 |
27.8 |
38.1 |
|
September 2012 |
28.9 |
39.1 |
Table 2 Appeal Receipts/on hand
|
Year |
On hands at start of year |
Received |
Workload |
Finalised |
On hands at end year (& to 30/9/2012) |
|
2006 |
5,704 |
13,800 |
19,504 |
14,006 |
5,498 |
|
2007 |
5,498 |
14,070 |
19,568 |
13,845 |
5,723 |
|
2008 |
5,723 |
17,833 |
23,556 |
15,724 |
7,832 |
|
2009 |
7,832 |
25,963 |
33,795 |
17,787 |
16,008 |
|
2010 |
16,008 |
32,432 |
48,440 |
28,166 |
20,274 |
|
2011 |
20,274 |
31,241 |
51,515 |
34,027 |
17,488 |
|
2012 (to 30/9/2012) |
17,488 |
27,221 |
44,709 |
23,138 |
21,571 |
