Nearly six out of 10 welfare appeals upheld in 2015

Almost 60 per cent of social welfare appeals, made by people unhappy with the decisions about their entitlements, were upheld last year.

The figures, contained in the Annual Report 2015 of the Social Welfare Appeals Office, show of the 25,406 appeals made last year 58 per cent (14,946) were decided either fully or partially in favour of the appellant.

The average length of time people waited for an outcome to their appeal was 20.9 weeks, a reduction on the 24.2 weeks in 2014.

The information was “concerning” said Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac) as it indicated a high proportion of people initially denied their legal entitlements were waiting almost six months to have the erroneous decision rectified.

Legal and policy officer Ciarán Finlay said there was a potential problem with decision-making by welfare officers.

"In some 5,200 cases, the original decision-makers in the Department of Social Protection revised their initially negative decision, which represents more than 20 per cent of all appeals decided in 2015."

Reform of the social welfare appeals system must be “a key priority” for the new Government, he said.

“Better first-instance decision-making could reduce delay, bureaucracy and spending. Higher consistency and quality in decisions can only be achieved through enhanced training for department officials making decisions on initial applications,” said Mr Finlay.

The payment about which there were the most appeals was disability allowance, which resulted in 6,435 appeals.

There were 3,188 appeals about carer’s allowance decisions, 2,174 about means-tested job seekers’ allowance, 2,125 about the supplementary welfare allowance, 2,058 about the jobseekers’ allowance payment and 1,857 about the invalidity pension.

Benefits

The payments which attracted fewest appeals were homemakers’ benefit and adoptive benefit about which there were none and deserted wives’ allowance and death benefit, about which there were one each.

Some 36 per cent (9,167) of all appeals were disallowed and 5 per cent (1,293) were withdrawn.

Flac welcomed progress on bringing down average processing times, but said more needed to be done on delays overpayments which may be the only income for a vulnerable person.

“We are particularly concerned by the average processing time of 18 weeks for appeals on supplementary welfare allowance, a payment designed as a safety net for those with no income,” said Mr Finlay.

He cited similar concerns raised by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in June 2015 at the high number of initial decisions overturned at the appeals stage. The UN committee recommended appeals be decided in a consistent and transparent manner and that appropriate training be provided to decision-makers at first instance.

Joan Gordon, chief appeals officer, said improving processing time would be a "a priority for my office in 2016". She said, however, some elements of the appeals process took place outside "the direct control" of her office.

Among the necessary pieces of information that had to be gathered were the department’s submission on each appeal, medical assessments in some cases, further investigation by social welfare inspectors when required and sometimes the findings form oral appeal hearings.