67. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Social Protection the number and percentage of Disability Allowance application refusals overturned on appeal in 2025 and to date in 2026. [66589/26]

There is no direct correlation between the number and percentage of Disability Allowance decisions and the number of appeals registered during a particular time period as timing differences will always apply.  This is particularly the case given the Appeal Regulations which came into effect from April 2025 which increased the number of days allowing customers to make an appeal from 21 days to 60 days.  Accordingly appeals received in January 2026 may refer to decisions made in November 2025.

However as an indication of the appeal rate, 19,058 Disability Allowance applications were refused during 2025 with 8,808 appeals registered in the same period.  This means that approximately 46% of those who received a decision to refuse their Disability Allowance application appealed that decision.

During 2025, 12,411 Disability Allowance appeals were finalised.  30% of those Disability Allowance appeals were decided by appeals officers in favour of the appellant.  A further 17% were awarded by Disability Allowance section on review, i.e. without the need to complete the formal appeals process.  Taken together, this means that 47% of appeals finalised had a favourable outcome.  If you apply this percentage to the number of Disability Allowance refusals made, accepting that there is no direct correlation given the difference in the time period, the percentage of Disability Allowance refusals which result in an appeal decision in favour of the applicant is 31%.

For 2026, up to end of Q2, 8,691 Disability Allowance applications were refused, with 4,299 appeals registered in the same period.  This means that approximately 49% of those who received a decision to refuse their Disability Allowance application appealed that decision.

Up to end of Q2 2026, 4,272 Disability Allowance appeals were finalised. 30% of disability allowance appeals finalised up to Q2 were decided by appeals officers in favour of the appellant, with a further 26% awarded by Disability Allowance section on review, without the need to complete the formal appeals process.  Taken together this means that 56% of total Disability Allowance appeals finalised had a favourable outcome.  Using the same assumptions as for 2025, this represents about 28% of all Disability Allowance refusals made.

It is important to note that where decisions are allowed after submitting an appeal, this does not mean that the initial decision was incorrect.  A decision can be revised because the person making an appeal provides additional information which was not available when the initial decision was made.  In other jurisdictions appellants are not allowed to submit additional information but instead are required to submit a new claim.  By referring the appeal papers back to the deciding team for review our process is more flexible and does not require a person to restart the entire application process.

As a result, 2,101 (about 36%) of the 5,827 disability allowance appeals allowed in 2025 were made by way of revised decision by the scheme Deciding Officers.

For 2026, up to end of Q2, 1,126 (about 47%) of the 2,420 disability allowance appeals granted were made by way of revised decision by the scheme Deciding Officers.

If the original decision remains unchanged following the review/re-examination by a Deciding Officer, the appeal case proceeds to formal determination by an Appeals Officer.  When a case is assigned to an Appeals Officer, he or she will examine the documentary evidence presented and consider if the appeal can be properly and fairly decided by way of a summary decision or whether an oral hearing is required.  At any time during the appeals process, up to and including Oral Hearing, if applicable, an appellant can submit additional information, which affords them the opportunity to strengthen their case.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.