Éamon Ó Cuív
Question:375. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of invalidity pension appeals awaiting a decision for eight months or more; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3960/24]
View answerTuesday, 30 January 2024
Questions (375)
Written answers
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.
It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. There is active engagement between the Appeals Office and the Department to ensure that the appeals process operates efficiently and that where the Deciding Officer's decision is not revised in favour of the appellant that the appeal file papers are provided as quickly as possible to the Appeals Office for consideration by an Appeals Officer.
I have been advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there are currently 15 Invalidity Pension appeals, registered 8 months ago or more, that are still awaiting a decision.
Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent years. Further improvements in appeals processing times are a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer. A significant Appeals Modernisation Project is currently underway the goal of which is to streamline and enhance the end-to-end appeals process for the customer, the Social Welfare Appeals Office and business areas across the Department.
As part of this project a new IT system went live on 6 November 2023. The new system has significantly reduced the time taken to register and acknowledge appeals lodged with the Appeals Office and in time will reduce the overall average processing times.
I trust this clarifies matters the matter for the Deputy.