Appeal waiting times spiral out of control – Minister must get Department of Social Protection in order
Appeal waiting times spiral out of control - Minister must get Department of Social Protection in order - The Labour Party
Labour Party spokesperson on social protection Mark Wall TD has today called on the Minister for Social Protection to get to grips with the spiralling waiting times for social protection appeals to be processed.
Data released to Deputy Wall shows that across all social protection schemes, the average waiting time for an appeal to be processed increased by nearly 11 weeks from 2021 to 2024.
The biggest increase was for the Working Family Payment.
In 2021, the average waiting time for the Working Family Payment was 14 weeks, but by 2024 the waiting time had increased by 251% to just over 49 weeks.
The majority of payments have all seen an increase in waiting time, including:
- Carer’s Allowance, increasing from 12.5 weeks to nearly 17 weeks.
- Disability Allowance, increasing from 12.4 weeks to 16 weeks.
- One Parent Family Payment, increasing from 22.4 weeks to 34.7 weeks.
Deputy Wall said:
“The Department of Social Protection is clearly losing control of processing appeals. We are seeing massive increases across the majority of social protection schemes. While the average waiting time across all payment appeals may be nearly 24 weeks, I know of a number of cases where family carers or people with disabilities are waiting up to a year or more to hear back on their appeal.
“These payments are a lifeline for many households and working families, lone parents and carers are already feeling the pinch enough as it is with crippling cost of living increases. Families have to fight tooth and nail just to apply for these payments and these waiting times are reflective of a government out of touch when it comes to helping struggling families.
“The Minister needs to get his department in order and get to grips with these spiralling waiting times through increasing resources available so that appeals can be processed in a timely manner.”
ENDS
Question 33123/25
To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average processing times for social welfare appeals for each social welfare scheme; the number of successful appeals granted, over the past four years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Tables to be provided to Deputy Mark Wall
Main Schemes – please note *2024 are provisional figures – final figures will be published shortly in SWAO Annual Report
Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2021– 31 December 2021
| Average processing times (weeks) | Successful Appeals | |
| Carer’s Allowance | 12.5 | 1,500 |
| Carer’s Benefit | 11.7 | 158 |
| Child Benefit | 32.4 | 181 |
| Disability Allowance | 12.4 | 3,355 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 18.4 | 1,042 |
| Illness Benefit | 16.3 | 476 |
| Invalidity Pension | 16.1 | 1,313 |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance (Means) | 27.2 | 239 |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance (Payments) | 23.5 | 454 |
| Jobseeker’s Benefit | 15.4 | 431 |
| Jobseeker’s Benefit Self Employed | 10.3 | 7 |
| Jobseeker’s Transitional | 15.8 | 18 |
| Maternity Benefit | 15.0 | 28 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 22.4 | 122 |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 18.7 | 56 |
| Paternity Benefit | 11.2 | 22 |
| State Pension (Contributory) | 20.2 | 94 |
| State Pension (Non-Contributory) | 28.8 | 138 |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | 18.3 | 330 |
| Working Family Payment | 14.0 | 726 |
| Average All Appeals | 12.9 | |
Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2022– 31 December 2022
| Average processing times (weeks) | Successful Appeals | |
| Carer’s Allowance | 12.7 | 1,391 |
| Carer’s Benefit | 11.5 | 155 |
| Child Benefit | 28.2 | 156 |
| Disability Allowance | 13.7 | 3,144 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 20.0 | 1,458 |
| Illness Benefit | 16.6 | 1,168 |
| Invalidity Pension | 18.6 | 964 |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance (Means) | 24.8 | 226 |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance (Payments) | 21.3 | 746 |
| Jobseeker’s Benefit | 16.7 | 500 |
| Jobseeker’s Benefit Self Employed | 14.9 | 23 |
| Jobseeker’s Transitional | 16.1 | 43 |
| Maternity Benefit | 13.6 | 48 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 19.9 | 146 |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 15.3 | 23 |
| State Pension (Contributory) | 30.1 | 165 |
| State Pension (Non-Contributory) | 29.8 | 128 |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | 26.7 | 275 |
| Working Family Payment | 31.5 | 854 |
| Average All Appeals | 14.9 |
Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2023– 31 December 2023
| Average processing times (weeks) | Successful Appeals | |
| Carer’s Allowance | 16.6 | 1,288 |
| Carer’s Benefit | 13.9 | 112 |
| Child Benefit | 30.4 | 210 |
| Disability Allowance | 16.1 | 3,221 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 17.3 | 1,323 |
| Illness Benefit | 40.8 | 262 |
| Invalidity Pension | 14.4 | 1,161 |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance (Means) | 18.8 | 164 |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance (Payments) | 19.0 | 852 |
| Jobseeker’s Benefit Self Employed | 15.2 | 11 |
| Jobseeker’s Transitional | 32.7 | 44 |
| Maternity Benefit | 19.4 | 33 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 24.8 | 136 |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 18.4 | 19 |
| Paternity Benefit | 10.6 | 56 |
| State Pension (Contributory) | 32.1 | 201 |
| State Pension (Non-Contributory) | 25.9 | 137 |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | 20.8 | 224 |
| Working Family Payment | 80.9 | 652 |
| Average All Appeals | 16.0 |
Appeal Processing Times by Scheme 1 January 2024– 31 December 2024
| Average processing times (weeks) | Successful Appeals | |
| Carer’s Allowance | 16.9 | 1,202 |
| Carer’s Benefit | 13.6 | 131 |
| Child Benefit | 25.4 | 175 |
| Disability Allowance | 16.0 | 3,293 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 22.7 | 1,653 |
| Illness Benefit | 25.9 | 341 |
| Invalidity Pension | 14.8 | 974 |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance | 32.8 | 1,994 |
| Jobseeker’s Benefit | 21.0 | 1,560 |
| Jobseeker’s Benefit Self Employed | 24.7 | 3 |
| Jobseeker’s Transitional | 44.1 | 41 |
| Maternity Benefit | 14.5 | 90 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 34.7 | 279 |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 22.0 | 82 |
| Paternity Benefit | 9.5 | 30 |
| State Pension (Contributory) | 35.1 | 243 |
| State Pension (Non-Contributory) | 30.9 | 191 |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | 15.6 | 187 |
| Working Family Payment | 49.2 | 699 |
| Average All Appeals | 23.5 |