Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

State Pensions Payments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 April 2015

Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Ceisteanna (83)

Tom Fleming

Ceist:

83. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide, in tabular form and by county, the number of State pensions (contributory) and (non-contributory) granted and refused from 1 January 2014 to date in 2015; the average waiting time for decisions on appeals; the number of appeals referred to an independent oral appeal; and the percentages of these approved and refused. [14485/15]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department. I am however informed that during the period specified there were 67,159 applications for state pensions of which 45,121 (67.2%) were awarded and 16,193 (24.1%) were disallowed and the remainder were either withdrawn by the applicant or are pending a decision. A breakdown of these figures is detailed in the tabular statements.

The average time taken to process State Pension (non-contributory) appeals decided by summary decision in 2014 was 20.3 weeks and 29.4 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. The average time for 2015 to the end of March was 18.0 weeks for summary decision and 31.8 weeks for oral hearing.

The number of State Pension (non-contributory) appeals decided by oral hearing in 2014 was 81 of which 50 (61.8 %) had a successful outcome for the appellant. In 2015 to the end of March the number decided by oral hearing was 22 of which 11 (50.0 %) had a successful outcome.

The average time taken to process State Pension (contributory) appeals decided by summary decision in 2014 was 25.2 weeks and 41.9 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. The average time for 2015 to the end of March was 22.8 weeks for summary decision and 45.4 weeks for oral hearing.

The number of State Pension (contributory) appeals decided by oral hearing in 2014 was 35 of which 19 (54.3 %) had a successful outcome for the appellant. In 2015 to the end of March the number decided by oral hearing was 13 of which 4 (30.8 %) had a successful outcome.

State Pensions Registered, Awarded or Disallowed 2014

State Pension Contributory

State Pension Transition State Pension Non-Contributory

Registered

Awarded

Rejected

Registered

Awarded

Rejected

Registered

Awarded

Rejected

Jan

3,699

2,275

759

753

343

399

885

678214

Feb

3,646

2,363

759

569

233

381

916

594165

Mar

4,272

2,986

774

487

190

300

882

561190

Apr

3,443

2,575

707

472

175

281

672

581147

May

3,957

2,899

863

503

173

296

807

677157

Jun

2,578

1,912

510

241

99

106

689

532177

Jul

3,043

2,218

666

367

120

190

890

703185

Aug

2,947

2,173

473

123

85

81

643

567188

Sep

3,167

2,034

637

120

64

78

778

773225

Oct

3,530

2,411

886

127

70

87

681

787245

Nov

3,663

2,428

645

87

42

47

760

665266

Dec

2,267

1,317

526

36

29

50

395

632191

State Pensions Registered, Awarded or Disallowed 2015

State Pension Contributory

State Pension Transition State Pension Non-Contributory

Registered

Awarded

Rejected

Registered

Awarded

Rejected

Registered

Awarded Rejected

Jan

3,654

1,610

779

77

29

54

1,094

561 236

Feb

3,875

2,391

944

73

31

46

1,016

614 186

Mar

3,266

2,298

849

81

29

84

928

594 164

Barr
Roinn