Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 July 2013
647. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Social Protection the average waiting time for the issuing of payment to applicants who have had invalidity pension appeals upheld; the number of upheld appeals awaiting processing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35329/13]
View answerAt week ending 5 July 2013 there were approximately 600 invalidity pension claims awaiting award on foot of a successful appeal. This is due to the high number of claims processed in the past 12 months and the resulting increase in the number of appeals. In the last 4 weeks alone approximately 550 successful appeal cases were received in invalidity pension section. These cases will be processed and paid.
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 1973 claims at the end of June 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.
The following information was provided under Standing Order 40A
Invalidity pension section, following an intensive clearance of a significant backlog of new claims, is now receiving an average of more than 140 successful appeals back from the Social Welfare Appeals Office each week, compare to approximately 30-50 cases which would be expected based upon the normal weekly intake and clearance of new claims. Consequently, a delay has built up in putting these successful appeals into payment, which currently stands at apprximately five weeks. This delay is very much regretted.
The processing of these successful appeals is being given priority and additional resources have been allocated in order to deal with this temporary increase in workload. It is expected that the waiting time for these cases to be put into payment will significantly decrease over the coming weeks.
