Social welfare taking longer on appeals

The Social Welfare Appeals Office is taking more than three weeks longer on average to process cases before it, even though the volume of appeals it received fell last year.

The 2017 annual report for the Social Welfare Appeals Office also shows that more than 60% of appeals finalised last year were in favour of the person who brought the appeal.

It also showed last year the average processing time for all appeals finalised was 23.6 weeks — up from 20.5 weeks in 2016.