There was a rapid and sustained increase in the number of appeals from 2009 to date which has placed extraordinary pressure on the SWAO. Significant resources and efforts have been put into reducing backlogs and improving processing times for appellants, including the assignment of 15 additional Appeals Officers, improving business processes and implementing a new operating model.
There has been significant increase in the number of appeals finalised from 17,787 in 2009 to 32,558 in 2012. Processing times have been reduced by 10.3 weeks overall in 2012 with respect to 2011, with time for an oral hearing time down by 13 weeks and the time for summary decision up by 2.7 weeks. Of course, further improvement is needed. In that regard, the Chief Appeals Officer expects to finalise 6,000 more cases in 2013 than in 2012; there is a major programme of process redesign and modernisation currently underway in relation to many scheme areas which will reduce backlogs and will also reduce the time taken for the Department to respond to requests from the SWAO for submissions in relation to appeals; it is planned to recruit additional Medical Assessors in 2013 which will assist in reducing the time taken for appeals where a medical assessment is required. All these measures together will reduce the waiting time for appellants.
