Social Welfare Appeals

1. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the action he is taking to improve the quality and consistency of first-instance decisions on social welfare applications, particularly where a significant proportion of decisions are subsequently overturned on appeal; whether his Department has reviewed the reasons for those decisions being overturned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67551/26]

Mine is a fairly straightforward question. I need to understand what the Minister is doing to improve the quality and consistency of first-instance decisions. The reason I ask is partly due to the fact that I am tracking the figures but also due to what I see coming into my constituency office. I ask the Minister to refer, if he could, to the domiciliary care allowance application process. That is the one that, anecdotally and according to the figures, seems to be the most problematic.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo. As she knows, we in the Department are committed to ensuring that decisions on social welfare applications are of consistently high quality and in accordance with legislative provisions and the general principles of fair procedures and natural justice. Proportionally, the number of appeals received equates to about 1% of all decisions that are made by the Department. In 2024, the Department reported 3.4 million decisions and the appeals office reviewed 40,684 appeals. In 2025, the Department made almost 3.6 million decisions. The number of appeals received was lower at 39,642. We have worked hard to improve the appeals service. In 2025, a total of 51,638 appeals were finalised. Of these, 24% were revised by the scheme area of the Department without having to be considered by an appeals officer. This means that the decision was revised at the earliest part of the review or appeals process. Some 21% were allowed or partially allowed by an appeals officer and 46% were disallowed. The remaining appeals cases were withdrawn. It is important to note that where an appeal is allowed or partially allowed or a decision is reversed, this does not necessarily indicate that the original decision was incorrect. In many cases, an appellant submits additional information or evidence during the review or appeals process that was not available to the deciding officer. That is where I am going to focus. I will focus on getting that information and encouraging the provision of that information at the beginning. I thank the appeals office, which is doing extraordinary work at the moment. It significantly reduced the number of appeals awaiting decision in 2025. Appeals on hand reduced from 21,629 at the beginning of 2025 to 9,633 at the end of the year, which was a 55% reduction. That movement has continued throughout 2026. At the end of June, we had 6,695. The waiting list for domiciliary care allowance appeals is just over nine weeks at the moment. We are at all times focused on bringing that down.

The domiciliary care allowance and disability allowance are particular concerns for me. I have spoken previously about the issues. It is rough on the families. They have to write about their children on their worst days and about all the bad things that they do to the family. That is not where people want to be. Considerable work could be done by the Minister's Department in advance of that. Notwithstanding that, for 60% of domiciliary care allowance applications, the original decision is overturned on appeal. The Minister is telling us that 45% of appeals are upheld and 24% of them are upheld without having to go to a higher officer. That is not a case of more information being added. That points to something being missed in the first instance. I want to convey to the Minister on behalf of my constituents and the multiple people who have contacted me about the issue that the appeals process is very rough for those people who are going through it. When their circumstances do not change, their appeals are being overturned. I understand that there is sometimes new evidence but sometimes there is none, and that is a problem.

I assure the Deputy that we do not want it to be that way. Way back in the spring of last year, our first Question Time focused on the domiciliary care allowance. I thank the Deputy for her interest. We have worked hard to try to make it as easy as possible. We introduced online applications. We are introducing an online appeals office, which gives people time in their own space to do that. We are constantly working to make it as easy as possible. The applications process is now online. Since it went online, just over 45% of applications have come in online, which probably gives an idea of the profile of the demographic applying. I am constantly focused on the issue. As I said, the waiting period for the domiciliary care allowance is 9.2 weeks for appeals. That was considerably higher prior to the focus that the appeals office has been putting on it. We had discussions last week at management board level as to how we could make the appeals process tighter for disability allowance, in particular. The amount of information that can come in on an appeal is quite extensive. That changes a lot decisions. To go through that information takes time. We are looking at how we can use our best processes to manage that.

An overturn rate of 60% points to a problem. I also thank the people in the appeals office. We deal with them on a regular basis and I know they are doing their best. Having said that, there is an issue. I cannot think of any other instance where there would be a 60% overturn rate. That kind of rate is a structural failure. I am not necessarily calling it an "error rate", but the original decisions are not good and that is why they are overturned. In the intervening time, families are left without money. I welcome the fact that the waiting time is coming down, but it is still nine weeks that people will be left without money and there will then be more time required to process that. There is only so much that people can do while they are waiting. There is a toll on families. I welcome the focus on the appeals process. I would welcome and appreciate it were the committee to get regular updates on what is happening and if things are going in the right direction. Sometimes, the anecdotal evidence takes a while to catch up, and that is fine and I am perfectly willing to accept it. For the moment, however, I see from the people coming into my office and from people contacting me from outside my constituency that the 60% figure is a worry.

I would not say that 60% of decisions are overturned. That figure means that extra information was supplied during the appeal or review. That information might not have been available originally and would have changed the outcome. I will certainly give an update. We will try to give a regular update to the committee. It would be of use to me, too, so we can look to see where there are pressure points. I thank the chief appeals officer and her staff. They have put significant work and investment into dealing with this issue. They constantly show their empathetic natures and understand the need to guide people and mind them through the appeals process. People are under considerable pressure and the appeals office is attuned to that. We are more than happy to deal with any specific case that the Deputy has in mind.