Denise Mitchell
Question:430. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Social Protection the average response time to the Oireachtas representatives’ email address regarding social welfare appeals. [24604/24]
View answerTuesday, 11 June 2024
Questions (430)
Written answers
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 Office has advised me that the current response time to the Oireachtas representatives’ email address regarding social welfare appeals is 15 working days. This can fluctuate depending on resources and volume of queries received.
Improvements in mailbox response times are a priority for the Social Welfare Appeals Office and additional staff have been assigned to the communication section to help reduce response times to both Oireachtas representatives and to appellants.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.