The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers and works to ensure that claims and appeals are processed in the most efficient and expeditious way possible, having regard to the eligibility conditions that apply to each scheme.
There are no backlogs in new applications for invalidity pension, carer’s allowance and disability allowance with all claims actioned promptly upon receipt. At the end of January 2014 there were 1,841 pending applications for invalidity pension, 2,621 for carer’s allowance, which are within our tolerance levels and 4,472 for disability allowance which is slightly above. All of these cases are actioned and awaiting further information. Furthermore, invalidity pension applications are now decided on average within 8 weeks, carer's allowance within 10 weeks, while disability allowance applications are now decided on average within 10 weeks. It should be noted that the processing time for individual applications can vary depending on the complexity of the applicant's circumstances and the completeness of the information they provide in support.
As a consequence of the very high number of decisions made in the last year, there has been a corresponding substantial increase in the number of appeals being received. This had put pressure on the administration of appeals and resulted in some delays which are regrettable. Greater emphasis has been placed on ensuring that all appeals are processed in a timely manner and improvements in the time taken to process appeals continues to be made. However because of its quasi-judicial nature the processing of appeals takes time and reflects the fact that, by definition, the appeal process cannot be a quick one.
