The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
The time taken to process an appeal reflects a number of factors including that the appeals process is a quasi-judicial process with Appeals Officers being required to decide all appeals on a ‘de-novo’ basis. In addition, appeals decisions are themselves subject to review by the High Court and decisions have to be formally written up to quasi-judicial standards. Other factors that influence appeals processing times include the quality of the initial decision – in this respect the Department has changed the decisions process in respect of medical schemes, in order to provide more information to the claimant. It is expected that this will help to reduce the number of appeals over time.
Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent years. As a result, appeal processing times in respect of all schemes generally improved between 2012 and 2019 from 39.5 weeks for an oral hearing in 2012 to 26.9 weeks in 2019, and from 27.8 weeks for a summary decision in 2012 to 22.1 weeks in 2019.
Processing performance has in the past number of years been affected by a relatively large number of retirements in the Appeals Office - although these staff have been replaced it takes time for a new Appeals Officer to reach full productivity. Nevertheless, the latest data for the period January to June 2020 shows a further improvement of 25.6 weeks for an oral hearing and 17.6 weeks for a summary decision. Achieving further reductions in processing times is a priority for the Chief Appeals Officer.
Finally, where a claimant has been refused a social welfare payment, regardless of the scheme involved, and is appealing that decision, if their means are insufficient to meet their needs it is open to them to apply for supplementary welfare allowance in the interim. If their application for supplementary welfare allowance is refused, they can also appeal that decision.
The average waiting times for the first six months of 2020 for appeals in respect of schemes operated by the Department is contained in the table below.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2020– 30 June 2020
|
Average processing time (weeks)
Summary Decisions
|
Average processing time (weeks)
Oral Hearings
|
Blind Person’s Pension
|
33.4
|
38.6
|
Carer’s Allowance
|
13.1
|
21.7
|
Carer’s Benefit
|
18.1
|
23.0
|
Child Benefit
|
32.2
|
37.7
|
Disability Allowance
|
12.1
|
18.3
|
Illness Benefit
|
34.2
|
28.1
|
Death Benefit
|
40.9
|
-
|
Partial Capacity Benefit
|
41.3
|
52.2
|
Domiciliary Care Allowance
|
24.1
|
31.8
|
Deserted Wife’s Benefit
|
23.4
|
60.4
|
Farm Assist
|
22.1
|
22.8
|
Working Family Payment
|
20.5
|
30.2
|
Invalidity Pension
|
22.6
|
31.4
|
Maternity Benefit
|
26.4
|
-
|
Paternity Benefit
|
28.6
|
-
|
One Parent Family Payment
|
23.1
|
31.8
|
State Pension (Contributory)
|
29.2
|
31.3
|
State Pension (Non-Contributory)
|
27.8
|
34.6
|
Bereavement Grant
|
21.0
|
-
|
Occupational Injury Benefit
|
29.3
|
28.1
|
Disablement Pension
|
28.5
|
29.8
|
Medical Care
|
28.0
|
-
|
Guardian's Payment (Contributory)
|
20.9
|
-
|
Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
|
26.9
|
39.3
|
Jobseeker's Allowance (Means)
|
20.3
|
31.7
|
Jobseeker's Allowance (Payments)
|
19.5
|
34.3
|
Back To Work Family Dividend
|
19.9
|
-
|
Jobseeker's Transitional
|
21.5
|
27.6
|
Jobseeker's Benefit
|
17.7
|
23.7
|
Jobseeker's Benefit Self Employed
|
13.3
|
-
|
Incapacity Supplement
|
17.0
|
-
|
Treatment Benefit
|
22.7
|
-
|
Recoverable Benefits & Assistance
|
33.3
|
-
|
Carer’s Support Grant
|
16.3
|
23.8
|
Insurability of Employment
|
33.8
|
83.7
|
Supplementary Welfare Allowance
|
15.4
|
27.9
|
Widow/Widower's Pension (Contributory)
|
38.2
|
33.1
|
Widow/Widower's Pension (Non-Contributory)
|
27.5
|
35.5
|
Widowed Parent Grant
|
29.1
|
-
|
All Appeals
|
17.6
|
25.6
|