More than half of the people received a positive review of the appeal against the decision to refuse or partially grant a social assistance benefit last year, reports Breaking News.
The latest annual report from the Social Benefits Appeals Authority shows that in 2022, 52.1 percent. applicants successfully challenged the rejection or partial rejection by the Social Insurance Institution of their applications for benefits under various social assistance systems.
This number is slightly lower, with an effective cancellation rate of 54.8 percent in 2021.
The report revealed that 42.1 percent of appellants’ claims were rejected last year, and another 5.8 percent were withdrawn or not pursued.
SWAO issued a total of 24,267 appeals in 2022 – an annual increase of 1%.
The report shows that the cancellations of 12,654 people have been fully or partially approved, reports Breaking News.
The most common sickness, disability and carer related social assistance benefits claimed last year were Disability Allowance (5,637), Carer’s Allowance (2,824), Carer’s Allowance (2,084), Invalidity Pension (1,633) and Sickness Allowance (1,525).
Appeals also concerned 2,117 decisions on granting Jobseeker’s Benefit and a further 1,020 appeals regarding Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Commenting on the statistics, Chief Appeals Officer Elaine Quinn said it’s worth remembering that Social Security processes more than two million claims a year, reports Breaking News.
About 85 percent of all claims are considered valid by the department, and only 1 percent of its decisions are appealed.
Ms Quinn said she was well aware of the time it takes to process an appeal as it could have a direct impact on people’s personal lives.
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