No improvement in nine-month wait for social welfare appeals

People appealing the loss of social welfare payments can be waiting over nine months for a decision on their case.

Figures released in a parliamentary question to independent TD Catherine Murphy show that the delays, noted as being “unacceptably high” by the Social Welfare Appeals Office in both 2009 and 2010, did not improve last year.

As part of the appeals process, the relevant departmental papers and the deciding officer’s comments must be obtained. The average length of this process in 2011 was 13.7 weeks, or more than three months.

On their return to the Social Welfare Appeals Office, files are prepared for vetting before being assigned to an appeals officer, who either decides the case summarily or schedules it for an oral hearing. While the department could not give an average time for allocation of a file to an appeals officer, the average time for the finalisation of an appeal following the return of a file from the department in 2011 was 11.4 weeks in summary decisions and 38.8 weeks following oral hearings.

Director and chief appeals officer Geraldine Gleeson noted in the Social Welfare Appeals Office annual report for 2010 that processing times remained “unacceptably high” that year, having increased from an average of 24 weeks in 2009 to 28 weeks in 2010.

The number of appeals made to the office has increased dramatically since 2009. Between 1991 and 2007, an average of 15,000 social welfare appeals were received every year. This increased to 17,833 in 2008, 25,963 in 2009, 32,432 in 2010, before dropping slightly to 31,241 last year.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said nine additional appeals officers were appointed last year in an attempt to reduce delays.

Ms Murphy said: “I’m astonished that the minister came out with a figure of 39 weeks. I am routinely seeing cases taking in the region of 15 to 16 months where there is an oral hearing.”