Parliamentary Question to the Minister for Social Protection

To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on the Free Legal Advice Centre 2012 report Not Fair Enough with regard to the appeals process in her Department, as well as outlining in detail the reforms that have been reported to have taken place to reduce waiting time for appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Reply from the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton T.D.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a separate executive office with its own premises and staff which operates independently of the Department and the Minister.  

One of the recommendations relates to the independence of the SWAO. The appeals process has a statutory basis in both primary and secondary legislation and Appeals Officers are quasi-judicial officers and are required to be free and unrestricted in discharging their functions. As far back as 1958, the Supreme Court found that Appeals Officers are required to free and unrestricted in the performance of their duties. The high level of appeals allowed (54% in 2012) is evidence of the independence of the process.  There are no plans to take legislative steps to change the method by which Appeals Officers are appointed.

The report also criticises the delays being experienced by appellants. 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. 

As a result of these measures, there has been significant increase in the number of appeals finalised from an average of 13,500 to 32,558 in 2012 and processing times have been reduced by an 7.8 weeks overall in 2012 with time for an oral hearing time down by 18.2 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.

Concern was expressed in the report that the higher number of summary decisions in 2011 indicated a move away from oral hearings. I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that the increases in the number of summary decisions in 2010 and 2011 was a result of having eight very experienced retired appeals officers working exclusively on summary decisions which had the effect of front loading summary decisions.    The percentage of summary decisions was 69% in 2010 and 65% in 2011, the two years for which the retired officers were retained, and has since dropped to 60% in 2012.

In relation to consistency and transparency in decision making, this is addressed in a number of ways by the Department through training and communication and in relation specifically to the SWAO it is the statutory responsibility of the Chief Appeals Officer to convene meetings of Appeals Officers for the purpose of ensuring consistency.

The Department provides funding to a number of agencies involved in providing advocacy and information services to persons regarding their social welfare rights and how to process its systems. 

ENDS