Social Welfare Appeals

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

Questions (534)

Niall Collins

Question:

534. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of appeals submitted by applicants analysed per county, scheme, by paper appeal and by oral appeal in each year since 2015 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11725/22]

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Written answers

Minister for Social Protection

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.

I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that statistics are not maintained on a county by county basis, and it is not in a position to supply the information sought by the Deputy in relation to the appeals submitted by county.

All claim decisions taken by the Department’s Deciding Officers and Designated Persons are appealable to the Chief Appeals Officer. In any year about 85% of all claims are awarded by the Department and just 1% are appealed.

There are a number of ways which an appeal may be finalised. The large majority of appeals are decided upon by an Appeals Officer who will make a summary decision on the documentary evidence presented or if necessary, hold an oral hearing. In some other cases, new evidence is provided with the appeal and, as a result, the original decision may be revised in favour of the appellant by the Deciding Officer or Designated Person. A small proportion of appeals are withdrawn.

The first table below shows the number of appeals submitted by appellants per scheme in each year from 2015 to 2021.

The second table below provides details of appeals outcomes in each year from 2015 to 2021.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Appeals received 2015 to 2021

Year	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Adoptive Benefit	-	-	2	1	-	-	-
Back To Work Family Dividend	64	52	43	43	29	25	31
Bereavement Grant	6	3	1	1	1	-	-
Blind Pension	22	13	19	12	15	9	16
Carer's Allowance	3,188	3,887	3,200	2,902	3,006	3,630	3,361
Carer's Benefit	93	95	110	162	244	331	281
Carer’s Support Grant	124	164	164	126	165	201	300
Child Benefit	552	595	473	485	552	460	341
Death Benefit	1	1	-	1	1	2	2
Deserted Wife's Allowance	1	-	1	1	-	1	-
Deserted Wife's Benefit	19	7	7	8	6	7	6
Disability Allowance	6,435	4,912	5,077	5,200	6,242	6,661	5,733
Disablement Benefit	347	298	347	330	278	169	322
Domiciliary Care Allowance	1,258	1,198	1,199	1,432	1,656	1,690	1,558
Farm Assist	201	196	130	84	111	76	79
Guardian's Payment (Contributory)	49	38	34	22	27	27	33
Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)	18	17	16	8	12	8	19
Illness Benefit	1,204	819	443	581	916	984	683
Incapacity Supplement	12	9	7	7	1	5	-
Injury Benefit	65	56	51	44	53	83	72
Insurability of Employment	156	151	132	86	92	73	91
Invalidity Pension	1,857	1,362	1,381	1,387	1,874	2,206	1,870
Jobseeker’s Benefit (Self Employed)	-	-	-	-	3	75	33
Payment for 65 year olds	-	-	-	-	-	-	196
Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment	34	43	41	70	75	83	98
Jobseeker's Allowance - Means	2,174	2,050	1,504	1,380	1,188	1,256	905
Jobseeker's Allowance - Payments	2,058	2,031	1,676	1,570	1,445	1,250	1,320
Jobseeker's Benefit	735	637	545	610	671	759	1,196
Liable Relatives	26	23	9	4	5	1	3
Maternity Benefit	71	87	84	40	38	74	57
Medical Care	4	4	2	2	7	6	1
One Parent Family Payment	368	313	244	273	302	272	254
Pandemic Unemployment Payment	-	-	-	-	-	275	2,902
Parent’s Benefit	-	-	-	-	-	3	10
Partial Capacity Benefit	42	42	38	75	131	72	132
Paternity Benefit		1	16	14	8	32	33
Pre-Retirement Allowance	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
Recoverable Benefits & Assistance	26	24	25	29	9	4	-
State Pension (Contributory)	264	366	408	309	457	345	354
State Pension (Non-Contributory)	348	397	370	347	386	350	315
State Pension (Transition)	3	2	3	-	-	-	-
Supplementary Welfare Allowance	2,125	1,970	1,302	859	888	1,052	904
Treatment Benefits	3	5	1	2	2	5	2
Widow’s, Widower’s Pension (Non-Contributory)	25	26	23	18	17	9	12
Widow’s, Widower’s Pension (Contributory)	40	49	45	38	38	46	59
Widowed Parent Grant	10	8	6	1	5	10	15
Working Family Payment	447	510	477	290	1,441	1,037	1,221
Total	24,475	22,461	19,658	18,854	22,397	23,664	24,820

Appeal Outcomes 2015-2021

Year	Summary decisions by AO	Oral Hearings by AO	Revised decision by DO	Withdrawn	Total
2015	12,027	6,886	5,200	1,293	25,406
2016	10,463	6,527	5,100	1,130	23,220
2017	8,144	5,412	4,283	1,141	18,980
2018	8,748	5,397	3,425	937	18,507
2019	10,765	5,829	4,669	1,309	22,572
2020	18,808	1,712	5,204	1,066	26,790
2021	15,517	1,050	6,462	900	23,929