THE NUMBER of people appealing social welfare claims which were refused because it was deemed that Ireland was not their main centre of residence trebled last year.
The latest figures from the Social Welfare Appeals Office report for 2010 shows the number of appeals relating to the habitual residence condition, which claimants have to satisfy to prove they are permanently resident in Ireland, trebled last year to 4,146, from 1,383 a year earlier.
The residence condition was introduced in 2004 for people applying for social assistance payments or child benefit, meaning they had to be habitually resident here for a continuous period of two years.
Overall appeals relating to social welfare claims grew by a quarter to 32,432 in 2010 on the previous year and have almost doubled since 2008, when 17,833 appeals were submitted.
The 2010 report also revealed that the average waiting time for social welfare appeals increased from 24 weeks in 2009 to 28 weeks last year, although nine appeals officers were appointed in April 2011 to help deal with the growing number of appeals.
Claire McCarthy of the Irish Immigrant Support Centre said that given that 42 per cent of the appeals submitted last year were successful, it followed that thousands of claimants were denied legitimate welfare payments for months.
“That means that around 13,000 vulnerable people had to fight for their entitlements in 2010,” she said. “While it will help that new appeals officers have recently been appointed to the Social Welfare Appeals Office, improved decision-making at the first instance would also appear to be indicated.”
While she noted that the processing of these appeals took an average of seven months, she said some had to wait much longer for their appeal to be recognised.
“Average waiting times disguise the reality for some applicants; only last week we received notification of a successful appeal that we submitted in March 2010 – that’s 16 months ago.”
There have been criticisms of the habitual residence condition as applied to Irish citizens returning from abroad, including cases where adult children returning to look after aging or incapacitated relatives have been refused carers’ allowance.
Last year, 650 Irish citizens were refused social welfare payments because they were judged not to satisfy the condition. The majority, 463 cases, related to jobseeker’s allowance while 51 of others related to the refusal of carers’ allowance.
Joe O’Brien, policy officer with Crosscare, a non-governmental organisation working with Irish migrants, said he hoped new guidelines would address some of the issues posed by the residence condition.
“It has been one of the main reasons why people in vulnerable situations have been left in poverty by the State by being denied their right to a means of subsistence,” Mr O’Brien said. “Immigrants have suffered most in this regard but also returned emigrants.
During 2010, the Department of Social Protection established a working group to review the habitual residence condition guidelines, which is due to conclude its work this year.
The number of cases finalised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office rose by 58 per cent in 2010 when 28,166 cases were concluded, compared to 17,787 cases which were finalised in 2009.