263. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Social Protection the steps her Department can take to ensure that appeals can progress without delay; if requests by the Social Welfare Appeals Office for submissions and case files from the area that issued the initial decision can be expedited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37406/24]

The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. and management of the Appeals Office is the responsibility of the Chief Appeals Officer.

In 2023 approximately 1% of the decisions made by the Department of Social Protection were appealed to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. In 2023, the Office received 24,100 appeals. In 2024 up until 31/08/2024 the Office received 29,115 appeals, of which 25,367 were valid appeals which were registered. By comparison, over the same period in 2023 up until 31/08/2023, 16,323 appeals were registered. This is a substantial increase year on year.

An Appeals Modernisation Project is currently in progress. The key features of the project are:

(1) The introduction of a new IT system for more efficient end to end processing of appeals. The first release of this system went live in November 2023 and work on adding functionality to the system is continuing.

(2) Provision of an online service for appellants to make their appeals on the MyWelfare platform. This service was successfully implemented in July 2024 and work on enhancing online appeals functionality is continuing.

(3) Business process improvements have been introduced within the Office to improve customer service and processing times in tandem with the implementation of new systems. Several initiatives to streamline decision processes are also being undertaken.

The new IT system has contributed to a reduction in the time taken to register and acknowledge appeals lodged with the Appeals Office and this is assisting with the management of processing times. It has also streamlined the engagement between the Appeals Office and my Department to ensure that the appeals process operates as efficiently as possible. Papers are now requested and provided electronically between the Appeals Office and the Department and this change has increased efficiency and reduced the time and resources involved in requesting and receiving documents. Where the Deciding Officer's decision is not revised in favour of the appellant, the appeal file papers are provided as quickly as possible to the Appeals Office for consideration by an Appeals Officer.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.