Social welfare appeals
John Brassil questioned why so many social welfare appeals are successful and whether that indicated problems in first-instance decisions. The Social Protection Minister said the appeals number was small relative to overall claims and that extra information provided on appeal often explains the reversals.
The programme for Government committed to providing an accessible and user-friendly welfare system. In that context, I want the raise the issue of social welfare appeals over the past several years. I recently tabled a parliamentary question requesting the number of such appeals made in 2017 and 2018 and how many were successful. Approximately 20,000 appeals are made every year, of which 67% are successful and 33% rejected.
Why is there such a high number of successful appeals in the system? One would think that, when dealing with the most vulnerable in our society, we could treat them equitably and deal with their original applications in a timely manner.
Comment on this
Approximately 20,000 appeals come into the Department every year. This amounts to less than 2% of the entire annual claims load. The number of appeals is tiny compared to the overall number of applications the Department receives. The reason a high number are successful is further information not given in the first instance, which could have meant an appeal would have been unnecessary, is provided during the appeals process. Some 6,500 people work in my Department on behalf of the State. Every day they treat all recipients and applicants for schemes with dignity and respect and do so in a timely manner, as long as the necessary information is provided.