Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 May 2019
1433. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average waiting time for disability allowance claims which have been successfully appealed to the social welfare appeals office to be processed and awarded after the file has been returned to it; if there is a delay in this regard; if so, the steps she will take to address the delay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19148/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
Where a customer’s appeal is successful, every effort is made to implement the decision of the Appeals Officer (AO) within 3 weeks of notice of the decision being received from the Social Welfare Appeals Office. There has been a higher number of appeals in the fist quarter of 2019, a reflection of a higher number of claims received, and this has impacted negatively on implementation processing times.
The processing time of appeal outcomes is kept under continuous review and additional staff have been assigned to this work. It is expected that the DA will be back on target in the next few months.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
