Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
727. Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of social welfare payment appeals being processed by his Department for the years 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15170/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe number of appeals processed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026 (up to end of January) is outlined in the below table;
|
- |
Registered |
Finalised |
|
2024 |
40,684 |
28,702 |
|
2025* |
39,642 |
51,685 |
|
2026 (up to 31/01/26) |
2,970 |
4,242 |
*Statistics for 2025 are provisional pending finalisation of the 2025 Social Welfare Appeals Office Annual Report
An Appeals Modernisation Project to develop and implement new business processes was completed in Q1 2025. The purpose of the project was to streamline and enhance the end-to-end appeals process for the customer. The new system provides online capabilities to provide a more efficient and streamlined service for people availing of services and functionality on MyWelfare for making appeals.
New Social Welfare Appeals Regulations (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) came into effect from Monday, 28 April 2025. The purpose of these regulations is to modernise and streamline the social welfare appeals process, providing greater clarity, improved consistency, and more defined timeframes. This along with measures put in place by the Chief Appeals Officer has led to an increase in the number of appeals processed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office and subsequently a reduction of the number of appeals on hand.
A full breakdown of appeals processed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office for 2024 and prior years are available in the Social Welfare Appeals Office Annual Reports at the following website: www.gov.ie/en/social-welfare-appeals-office/collections/news-and-publications-from-the-social-welfare-appeals-office/
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy
