Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 March 2013
124. Deputy Charles Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applicants for invalidity or disability benefit waiting for a decision including appeals for a period in excess of two years; if she considers such a time period acceptable; and the steps she will take to deal with this matter. [11713/13]
View answerInvalidity pension section currently has 88 claims awaiting an initial decision for a period in excess of two years. It is not possible to provide an exact breakdown of these cases but it is reasonable to believe that the majority of these are cases which fall to be decided under EU regulations or bi-lateral agreements. These cases are more complex and take considerably longer to process. Invalidity pension section has been involved in a business process improvement review and backlog elimination programme. This programme has led to a significant reduction in the number of invalidity pension claims awaiting decision, down from 7,007 claims at end May 2012 to 2593 claims at the end of February 2013. In addition, new claims are now processed on receipt with a decision being made based on information provided or, if this is not possible, further medical evidence or additional information is requested and a decision is made on receipt.
As a consequence of the very high number of decisions made in the last 9 months, there has been a corresponding substantial increase in the number of appeals being received. Invalidity pension section is now focussed on reducing the backlog in the appeals area. Illness benefit section currently has no claims pending on the system for a period in excess of two years. With regard to appeals in both schemes, the number of open appeals of illness benefit and invalidity pension registered on or before 4 March 2011 is given in the table.
|
Scheme Type |
No. of appeals registered before 4th March, 2011 |
No. registered before 4th March, 2011 as a percentage of total of Appeals open |
|
Illness Benefit |
185 |
13.8% |
|
Invalidity |
66 |
1.6% |
These represent the most protracted cases. Appeals where medical grounds are identified as an issue under appeal are referred in the first instance to the Department's medical assessors for a second medical assessment and any further investigation, examination or assessment that is deemed necessary. If, after a second medical examination, an applicant is still deemed not to meet the qualifying criteria, the appeal proceeds by assignment to an appeals officer. Delays have developed in the processing of medical assessments and reviews due to a combination of factors including the increased workload for medical assessors and the reduced number of medical assessors due to retirements. The Department is addressing this issue and has recently run a competition to establish a new panel of medical assessors. Three new medical assessors were appointed from this panel and all commenced work in November 2012. It is expected that a further 8 medical assessors will be appointed from the panel in the near future.
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 or due process. Processing times of appeals reduced by 10.3 weeks overall in 2012 as compared to 2011. Of course, further improvement is needed. In that regard, the Chief Appeals Officer expects to finalise 6,000 more cases in 2013 than in 2012. There were 32,558 cases finalised in 2012. Any undue delays in the claim and appeal process are regretted. The Department has and will continue to implement measures to reduce the waiting time for applicants and appellants.
