Social Welfare Appeals Data

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Questions (310)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

310. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of appeals against decisions made for various payments and entitlements which have been allowed; the number of cases in which the original decision of the appeals officer has been overturned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24062/17]

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Written answers

Minister for Social Protection

The tables provide the details which have been requested by the Deputy in respect of 2015, 2016 and to date in 2017.

Overall, 58.8% of the 25,406 appeals which were finalised in 2015 had a favourable outcome for the appellant, i.e. were either allowed in full or in part, or resolved by way of a revised decision by a Deciding Officer/Designated Person. 59.2% of the 23,220 appeals finalised in 2016 and 57.2% of the 6,346 appeals finalised to date in 2017 had a favourable outcome for the appellant.

There are a number of reasons why a decision which was refused at first instance might be successful on appeal and it is not necessarily the case that the first decision was wrong.

Where new evidence is provided with an appeal, the original decision may be revised by the Deciding Officer or Designated Person. This was the case in some 35% of favourable appeal outcomes in 2015, some 37% of favourable appeal outcomes in 2016 and some 39% to date in 2017. Where the decision is not revised in the Department in light of the appeal contentions, further evidence is often provided by the appellant as the appeal process proceeds. In addition, the Appeals Officer may gain insights when they meet the appellant in person at oral hearing which may also influence the outcome of the appeal.

Statistics are not maintained separately in respect of those appeals where the decision of an Appeals Officer to disallow an appeal is subsequently revised by an Appeals Officer under Section 317 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 where new facts or evidence have been provided which were not before the Appeals Officer when the original decision was made. These cases are captured under the headings of ‘allowed’ or ‘partially allowed’ in the tables below.

The Deputy will be aware that the Chief Appeals Officer may revise a decision of an Appeals Officer under Section 318 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 where it has been established that in making the decision the Appeals Officer made an error in relation to the law or the facts. A table detailing the outcome of reviews by the Chief Appeals Officer under Section 318 is also included below. The following tables detailing favourable appeal outcomes also reflect those decisions which were revised by the Chief Appeals Officer in favour of an appellant under Section 318.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Favourable Appeal Outcomes 2015
	Revised Deciding Officers Decisions	Allowed by Appeals Officer	Partly Allowed by Appeals Officer	Total Favourable Decisions
Blind Person’s Pension	1	6	-	7
Carers Allowance	579	1,352	155	2,086
Carers Benefit	52	25	5	82
Child Benefit	172	83	35	290
Disability Allowance	1,443	3,384	85	4,912
Illness Benefit	508	199	16	723
Partial Capacity Benefit	7	13	-	20
Domiciliary Care Allowance	313	571	40	924
Deserted Wives Allowance	1	1	-	2
Deserted Wives Benefit	1	7	7	15
Farm Assist	29	30	15	74
Bereavement Grant	3	1	-	4
Liable Relatives	4	-	-	4
Family Income Supplement	167	88	8	263
Invalidity Pension	511	1,135	17	1,663
Maternity Benefit	19	3	1	23
One Parent Family Payment	84	112	18	214
State Pension (Contributory)	48	36	5	89
State Pension (Non-Contributory)	54	61	27	142
State Pension (Transition)	-	-	2	2
Occupational Injury Benefit	9	11	-	20
Disablement Pension	43	105	20	168
Occupational Injury Med. Care	3	-	-	3
Incapacity Supplement	6	7	-	13
Guardian's Payment (Con)	11	15	3	29
Guardian's Payment (Non-Con)	4	10	1	15
Jobseeker's Allowance (Means)	299	284	108	691
Jobseeker's Allowance	260	536	116	912
Pre-Retirement Allowance AllownceETIREMENT	-	-	1	1
BTW Family Dividend	9	1	-	10
Jobseeker's Transitional	8	1	1	10
Recoverable Benefits & Assistance	2	4	2	8
Jobseeker's Benefit	120	160	38	318
Carer’s Support Grant *	43	33	2	78
Insurability of Employment	5	20	-	25
Supplementary Welfare Allowance	373	634	77	1,084
Survivor's Pension (Con)	1	7	1	9
Survivor's Pension (Non-con)	8	4	1	13
All Appeals	5,200	8,939	807	14,946

Favourable Appeal Outcomes 2016
	Revised Deciding Officers Decisions	Allowed by Appeals Officer	Partly Allowed by Appeals Officer	Total Favourable Decisions
Blind Person’s Pension	2	5	1	8
Carers Allowance	815	1,375	145	2,335
Carers Benefit	32	11	3	46
Child Benefit	190	68	29	287
Disability Allowance	815	2,830	88	3733
Illness Benefit	341	136	5	482
Partial Capacity Benefit	7	9	-	16
Domiciliary Care Allowance	469	596	18	1,083
Deserted Wives Benefit	-	5	1	6
Farm Assist	45	31	29	105
Bereavement Grant	-	1	-	1
Liable Relatives	12	-	-	12
Family Income Supplement	177	125	18	320
Invalidity Pension	642	682	10	1,334
Maternity Benefit	12	17	1	30
One Parent Family Payment	59	89	27	175
State Pension (Contributory)	56	33	13	102
State Pension (Non-Contributory)	81	76	30	187
State Pension (Transition)	-	1	1	2
Occupational Injury Benefit	13	13	1	27
Disablement Pension	45	140	13	198
Occupational Injury Med. Care	2	-	-	2
Incapacity Supplement	5	1	1	7
Guardian's Payment (Con)	4	16	1	21
Guardian's Payment (Non-Con)	3	10	1	14
Jobseeker's Allowance (Means)	338	287	120	745
Jobseeker's Allowance	324	525	98	947
BTW Family Dividend	12	1	-	13
Jobseeker's Transitional	6	12	1	19
Recoverable Benefits & Assistance	6	9	1	16
Jobseeker's Benefit	155	151	40	346
Carer’s Support Grant *	56	37	2	95
Insurability of Employment	20	30	4	54
Supplementary Welfare Allowance	346	532	75	953
Survivor's Pension (Con)	7	12	5	24
Survivor's Pension (Non-con)	1	5	1	7
Widows Parent Grant	2	-	-	2
All Appeals	5,100	7,871	783	13,754

Favourable Appeal Outcomes 2017 (to 30/04/2017)
	Revised Deciding Officers Decisions	Allowed by Appeals Officer	Partly Allowed by Appeals Officer	Total Favourable Decisions
Blind Person’s Pension	-	-	1	1
Carers Allowance	303	451	45	799
Carers Benefit	13	11	1	25
Child Benefit	48	31	6	85
Disability Allowance	189	616	26	831
Illness Benefit	44	74	2	120
Partial Capacity Benefit	3	6	-	9
Domiciliary Care Allowance	101	140	3	244
Deserted Wives Benefit	-	1	-	1
Farm Assist	4	9	8	21
Bereavement Grant	-	1	-	1
Liable Relatives	-	-	4	4
Family Income Supplement	68	20	3	91
Invalidity Pension	238	129	3	370
Maternity Benefit	4	2	2	8
Paternity Benefit	1	-	-	1
One Parent Family Payment	20	34	8	62
State Pension (Contributory)	23	8	2	33
State Pension (Non-Contributory)	20	36	9	65
Occupational Injury Benefit	-	2	-	2
Disablement Pension	11	25	3	39
Incapacity Supplement	3	1	1	5
Guardian's Payment (Con)	1	6	1	8
Guardian's Payment (Non-Con)	-	2	1	3
Jobseeker's Allowance (Means)	78	70	36	184
Jobseeker's Allowance	97	147	26	270
BTW Family Dividend	2	5	-	7
Jobseeker's Transitional	3	1	2	6
Recoverable Benefits & Assistance	2	1	-	3
Jobseeker's Benefit	37	33	5	75
Carer’s Support Grant *	12	14	-	26
Insurability of Employment	3	14	-	17
Supplementary Welfare Allowance	84	109	12	205
Survivor's Pension (Con)	2	1	-	3
Survivor's Pension (Non-con)	1	2	2	5
All Appeals	1,415	2,002	212	3,629

Outcome of Section 318 reviews by the Chief Appeals Officer
	Appeals Allowed by Chief Appeals Officer	Appeals Disallowed by Chief Appeals Officer	Appeals Re-opened for oral hearing
2015	31	-	8
2016	25	3	6
2017 (to 20/4/2017)	8	2	2