People denied social welfare face five month wait for appeal reassessment

PERSONS who are denied social welfare payments and appeal the decision must wait up to five months to have their cases reassessed.

Social Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan confirmed it took the Social Welfare Appeals Office 20 weeks to deal with the average case last year.

Fine Gael’s Denis Naughten said such delays caused severe financial hardship for the families involved and called on the minister to take steps to reduce the backlog.

But Mr Brennan said the process of dealing with appeals was a complex one.

“The social welfare appeals process is a quasi-judicial process and it is necessary for the appeals officer to be satisfied that he/she has all the facts before making a decision on a case,” he said.

“Furthermore, the appeals officer must give the person making the appeal and the deciding officer the opportunity to make their views known on the facts of the appeal.”

He said that the department had actually improved its service in this area in recent years by introducing a “right of review”.

This means that if the social welfare claimant has any new evidence which could lead to the adverse decision in their case being revised, they can bring it to the deciding officer involved.

Should the review fail, the claimant is still entitled to appeal the adverse decision. The advantage of first seeking a right of review is that it is a quicker process.

“My department introduced a right of review in 2002 to ensure that customers who received adverse decisions could have them reviewed in the light of any new evidence they brought forward,” Mr Brennan said.

“Customers whose claims are disallowed or who are otherwise dissatisfied with a decision are advised that they should bring any new facts or evidence to the attention of the deciding officer in the first instance for re-examination.

“They are informed that this right is in addition to their right of appeal.

“The review process is speedier than the appeals process, and in 2005, 3,300 cases were disposed of by way of review.”

The minister said that improving processing times remained “a major objective” of the appeals office.

“However, it is necessary to ensure that progress in this regard is achieved in a manner which is not in conflict with the demands of justice and the requirement that every appeal be fully investigated and examined on all its merits,” he added.