Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2012
339. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures she has taken to address the unacceptable waiting lists for farm assist appeals, the timeframe to process these appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56584/12]
View answer340. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures she taken to address the unacceptable waiting lists for invalidity pension appeals; the timeframe to process these appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56585/12]
View answer343. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures she taken to address the unacceptable waiting lists for domiciliary care allowance appeals; the timeframe to process these appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56588/12]
View answer347. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures she has taken to address the unacceptable waiting lists for carer's allowance appeals; the timescale to process these appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56600/12]
View answer348. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures she has taken to address the unacceptable waiting lists for disability allowance appeals; the timescale to process these appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56601/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 339, 340, 343, 347 and 348 together.
The current average processing times for appeals in relation to Farm Assist, Domiciliary Care Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Disability Allowance and Invalidity Pension are provided in the attached table.
Appeals processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation and include all activities during this period including time spent in the Department for comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal put forward by the appellant and any further investigation, examination or assessment by the Department’s Inspectors and Medical Assessors that is deemed necessary. A considerable period of time is added to the process when an oral hearing is required because of the logistics involved in this process.
There was a rapid and sustained increase in the number of appeals from 2009 to date which has placed extraordinary pressure on the SWAO. Significant resources and efforts have been put into reducing backlogs and improving processing times for appellants, including the assignment of 15 additional Appeals Officers, retraining retired experienced officers for 18 months ending December 2011, improving business processes and implementing a new operating model.
As a result of these measures, there has been significant increase in the number of appeals finalised from an average of 13,500 in 2009 to 34,027 in 2011 and the processing times reduced by an overall 10.2 weeks in the nine months of this year. Further improvement is needed and in that regard,
- The Chief Appeals Officer expects to finalise 6,000 more cases in 2013 than in 2012;
- There is a major programme of process redesign and modernisation currently underway in relation to many scheme areas which will reduce backlogs and will also reduce the time taken for the Department to respond to requests from the SWAO for submissions in relation to appeals;
- It is planned to recruit 8 additional Medical Assessors in 2013.
All these measures together will reduce the waiting time for appellants.
However, by its nature and because it is a quasi-judicial process, the processing of appeals takes time even at the best of times and reflects the fact that while every effort is made to deal with appeals as fast as possible this cannot be at the expense of fairness of due process.
Table – Average processing for appeals at 30th November 2012
|
Average processing times (weeks) Summary Decisions |
Average processing times (weeks) Oral Hearings |
|
|
Farm Assist |
23.6 |
44.7 |
|
Domiciliary Care Allowance |
31.9 |
41.5 |
|
Carers Allowance |
33.2 |
42.7 |
|
Disability Allowance |
33.6 |
40.6 |
|
Invalidity Pension |
77.5 |
99.0 |
