Emmet Stagg
Question:130. Deputy Emmet Stagg asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason for the delay in determining an appeal in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare. [10137/14]
View answerThursday, 27 February 2014
Questions (130)
Written answers
The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who has decided to convene an oral hearing on 14th March 2014 in order to determine the appeal. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the hearing.
There has been a rapid and sustained increase in the number of appeals received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2009 which has placed extraordinary pressure on the office. Up to 2009, the average number of appeals received was 15,000 per annum whereas in 2012, the number of appeals received peaked at 35,484, reducing to 32,777 appeals in 2013.
In order to manage this increasing workload, significant resources and efforts have been put into reducing backlogs and improving appeals processing times for appellants, including the assignment of 15 additional Appeals Officers, in addition to 10 former Community Welfare Service Appeals Officers who joined the appeals office in 2011, bringing the total number of serving Appeals Officers to 41; reviewing and improving business processes; and implementing a new operating model within the appeals office. A major programme of process redesign and modernisation is also underway in the Department in relation to many of its scheme areas, aimed at reducing backlogs and reducing the time taken by the Department to respond to requests from the appeals office for submissions in relation to appeals.
These measures have led to a significant improvement in appeal processing times. The average processing time for all appeals peaked in 2011 at 52.5 weeks for an oral hearing and 25.1 weeks for a summary decision. In 2012, processing times improved by 10.3 weeks when the average time for an oral hearing was 39.5 weeks while there was a slight increase to 27.8 weeks for a summary decision. This improvement continued in 2013 to 33.9 weeks for an oral hearing and 25.8 weeks for a summary decision.
In addition to improved processing times, the number of appeals finalised in the appeals office has also increased as a result of these measures from 17,787 in 2009 to 38,421 in 2013. The number of appeals finalised in 2013 has also increased by 5,863 compared to 2012. Good progress has also been made in reducing the number of appeals on hand from 20,414 at 1 January 2013 to 14,077 at 24th February 2014.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.