Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
728. Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for a decision on a social welfare payment appeal; the measures being made by his Department to streamline and improve the appeal process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15171/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs of end of January 2026 the average processing time for Social Welfare Appeals is 12.7 weeks.
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 on MyWelfare which provide a more efficient and streamlined service for people making appeals.
This change supports the end-to-end electronic processing of appeals and provides a secure, comprehensive, online appeals service for customers. It is improving the customer experience by offering an additional online channel, facilitating 24/7 access to view their current appeal status which has helped improve communications with appellants during the appeals process.
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 a reduction of the number of appeals on hand and the length of time it takes for appeals to be processed and decided.
The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor processing times and every effort is made to reduce the time taken to process an appeal. However, the drive for efficiency must be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent and made in accordance with the provisions set out in primary legislation and regulations.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
