David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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10. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will outline, with reference to section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, the number of revisions carried out under the section in each respective year from 2021 to 2023 inclusive; the number of these revisions that resulted in a changed decision; the number of revisions currently being considered under the section; of these, the longest waiting time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25414/24]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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This question is to ask about section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. It is quite an obscure section of the Act and I am curious to know how many revisions have been carried out under this section in each respective year, the number of these revisions that resulted in a changed decision, the number of revisions currently being considered under the section, the longest waiting time, because I have come across one that seems to have been quite long, and if the Minister will make a statement on this issue.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this issue. 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.

The social welfare appeals system is underpinned by Chapter 2 of Part 10 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 and the Social Welfare (Appeals) Regulations 1998 - SI 108 of 1998. Under the legislation, the decision of an appeals officer is final and conclusive and but can be reviewed by an appeals officer under section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act in the light of new evidence or new facts that may be brought to their attention .To put that in English:, if you have a decision and you can provide new information, a different person will look at the appeal. If you have a decision and you can produce more information, a different person will look at it. A decision of an appeals officer can also be reviewed by the Chief Appeals Officer under section 318 where it appears or is claimed that a decision was erroneous based on the law or the facts. Decisions can also be appealed to the courts.

The review mechanism under section 317 is particularly useful as it enables a person to submit additional relevant evidence - perhaps a more detailed medical report - after an appeal is finalised and by so doing avoid the need to make a completely new claim. There are currently 616 section 317 appeal reviews with the appeals office for determination. A table with the number of section 317 reviews carried out in each of the years from 2021 to 2023 with the outcomes and average processing times for each year is appended.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister very much. I remember when this section was discussed at the time the Bill was introduced in 2005 but the provision is obscure. I am astounded that 616 cases are currently being processed under this section. That seems to be quite a lot. What I am really interested in is the time it is taking to process those appeals. What is the longest period any case has been sitting there? I have come across a few that have been there for some time. It would be interesting to know how long they are there and whether there could be some impetus into getting faster decisions on such cases. As the Minister said, such cases have been through the initial application, a possible review, an appeal, and now this is a further appeal to another appeals officer based on further information or on the basis that a mistake was made earlier. It would also be interesting to hear how all these stages were triggered. Perhaps the Minister could tell me how long the oldest case has been sitting there.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I do not think I have the figure here about how long the oldest case is there, but I will get it for the Deputy. It is complicated enough and perhaps not that many people are familiar with this process, but it kicks in whenever a person provides new information. When an appeal is decided, if a person has new information, the application goes back in again and it is looked at with a fresh set of eyes. It is not influenced by any other decision that has been made; the whole file is looked at by a different person. That is important too so that there is fairness. A lot of the time it is because there is new information provided and that is what kicks the system into place.

As we know, in the vast majority of cases all the information is not provided. That is the case in particular with medication information. I have seen it myself. If certain boxes are not ticked by the doctor, another letter is required to explain that a person is deserving. In fairness, appeals officer do a difficult job and they do their best.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister very much. I am not familiar with clients being overtly informed about section 317. Does the Minister agree that if an appeal is decided in the negative that the clients should be then informed in the same letter that they can appeal under section 317 if further information becomes available? Perhaps that is happening, but I have not actually seen it. The Minister might come back to me and let me know if it is part of the policy that clients are informed that they can appeal on that basis.

I do not think there is any time limit on the process. At least it is not outlined in the 2005 Act. There are a few points the Minister might clear up for me later.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In fairness to the Department, it generally does tell people what options are available to them. If an appellant is unhappy with the decision of an appeals officer, he or she may seek a review of the decision under section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, provided there are new facts or evidence that were not before the appeals officer who made the original decision. A further remedy is available to appellants through section 318, whereby the chief appeals officer can revise the decision of an appeals officer if she determines that the appeals officer has erred in fact or law. It is quite a legalistic procedure when one gets to that stage.

Overall, in 2023 there were 21,875 appeals finalised of which 11,000 were either allowed by an appeals officer or my Department revised its decision in favour of the customer; 9,380 were disallowed by an appeals officer and 1,420 appeals were withdrawn. I have still not answered the Deputy's question but I will get him that figure.